"AIUI, every single American government since the inception of the Constitution has attempted to repeal the clause that says they can only rule for so long at a time. It's a damn good job Joe Public doesn't like the idea."
You understand it wrong, if you are referring to the term limit for Presidents. It was a strong convention from the start: George Washington felt that two terms ought to be enough for anybody. But it was only a convention.
It wasn't until Franklin Delano Roosevelt managed four election victories in the thirties and forties that a Constitutional Amendment was passed limiting the President to two terms.
I believe that some Presidents have wanted to change that back, Nixon among them. But it's quite a recent thing as a legal limit.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-01-17 10:38 pm (UTC)You understand it wrong, if you are referring to the term limit for Presidents. It was a strong convention from the start: George Washington felt that two terms ought to be enough for anybody. But it was only a convention.
It wasn't until Franklin Delano Roosevelt managed four election victories in the thirties and forties that a Constitutional Amendment was passed limiting the President to two terms.
I believe that some Presidents have wanted to change that back, Nixon among them. But it's quite a recent thing as a legal limit.