In the run-up to the election of 1796, President George Washington published his farewell address, announcing that he wouldn’t seek a third term, writing: “I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.” By voluntarily making way for a successor, he helped edify America’s republican form of government, setting, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Representative David Trone argue in a new guest essay, both an example and a precedent — one that should apply to Congress, not just to the executive. Though an obligatory presidential term limit is set out in the 22nd Amendment, no such limit has been imposed on members of the House or the Senate. That, DeSantis and Trone contend, is one of the primary reasons the country is in the midst of yet another government shutdown. They write that if you want to know why our national debt has ballooned, “look no further than politicians singularly focused on spending your tax dollars in ways that bolster their chances of re-election.” DeSantis, a Republican, and Trone, a Democrat, acknowledge that getting to a constitutional amendment establishing congressional term limits wouldn’t be easy. But, they maintain, a push for term limits would bring Americans together. And if enacted, term limits would ultimately make our federal legislature more responsive to the body politic. Congress, they say, shouldn’t be “a retirement home for career politicians.” Read the guest essay:
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