New Bill Could Make Bush President For Life

[WishX]

New Bill Could Make Bush President For Life

Prison Planet | June 14 2005

A House bill has been introduced that would change the 22nd amendment and enable George Bush to remain President for the rest of his political life.

The bill would repeal limitations on a President holding office for a maximum of two terms.

An even darker scenario, Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected as President in 2008 and shorty after the 22nd amendment is abolished, making the Hitler admirer our permanent Fuhrer.

This is the modern day version of the Enabling Act, which allowed Hitler to officially declare himself dictator.

The bill, which can be found at the Library of Congress website here, reads as follows.

----------------------------------

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. (Introduced in House)

HJ 24 IH

109th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. J. RES. 24

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 17, 2005

Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SABO, and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article --

`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is repealed.'.

------------------------------

The 22nd amendment as reprinted on the FindLaw website reads as follows.

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

Annotations

Limitation of Presidential Terms

''By reason of the lack of a positive expression upon the subject of the tenure of the office of President, and by reason of a well-defined custom which has risen in the past that no President should have more than two terms in that office, much discussion has resulted upon this subject. Hence it is the purpose of this . . . [proposal] . . . to submit this question to the people so they, by and through the recognized processes, may express their views upon this question, and if they shall so elect, they may . . . thereby set at rest this problem.'' 1

Source: Prison Planet

[vincent]

Oh hell no :no:

[Dean W]

Surely This is not True, Right?

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

:o Blasphemy! now i can be president forever!!! bwahaha

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

oh god no. :no:

[WishX]

Surely This is not True, Right?

586068971[/snapback]

Well, the Republicans do dominate Congress... guess we'll see how big their collective jewels are...

:no:

[lav-chan]

Ummm... well... i think it'd be difficult for Arnold Schwarzenegger to become the president in the first place unless they also repealed Section 1 of Article II in the Constitution.

Anyway, lame. Bet it won't pass, though.

Well, the Republicans do dominate Congress... guess we'll see how big their collective jewels are...

586068981[/snapback]

I bet their collective jewels aren't as big as two thirds of the House and Senate.

[JustVince]

I wouldn't trust that source it looks like a website for conspiracy theorists.

[Black Hawk]

I wouldn't trust that source it looks like a website for conspiracy theorists.

586069003[/snapback]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.J.RES.24.IH:

[WishX]

I wouldn't trust that source it looks like a website for conspiracy theorists.

586069003[/snapback]

I was waiting for someone to say that. Congratulations. It's you.

Try checking the Government sites (as Virtues of Evil so kindly pointed out).

[+chorpeac MVC]

ummm...wait a second....this still requires voters to vote the president. Just passing this doesn't guarantee dictatorship

[WishX]

ummm...wait a second....this still requires voters to vote the president. Just passing this doesn't guarantee dictatorship

586069024[/snapback]

The thing is, if the 22nd Amendment is repealed, they can argue that it's not retroactive (meaning it doesn't matter whether there was a 22nd Amendment when Bush was "elected") so he could possibly stay on until he dies or becomes too old to hold office. Then voters would vote for a new President.

Bad news all the way around. It shouldn't even be messed with. The toilet needs flushed at least every 8 years.

[PseudoRandomDragon]

Rest easy, it won't get passed.

[Aaron Veteran]

Does anyone here actually know what it takes to get an Ammendment passed?!

This will never happen...

SOURCE

In either case, amendments must have the approval of the legislatures or conventions of three-fourths of the existing states before they become part of the Constitution. All amendments save one have been submitted to the state legislatures for ratification; only the 21st Amendment was ratified by conventions.

Tell me, will 75% of the US vote for this? Also:

Some people feel that demographic changes in the U.S.?specifically the great disparity in population between states?have made the Constitution too difficult to amend, with states representing as little as 4% of the population theoretically able to block an amendment desired by over 90% of Americans; others feel that it's unlikely that such an extreme result would happen. However, any proposals to change this would necessarily involve amending the Constitution itself, creating something of a Catch-22.

Holy crap guys, changing an ammendment is not as easy as simply passing a bill through Congress.

[Clirion]

The thing is, if the 22nd Amendment is repealed, they can argue that it's not retroactive (meaning it doesn't matter whether there was a 22nd Amendment when Bush was "elected") so he could possibly stay on until he dies or becomes too old to hold office. Then voters would vote for a new President.

Bad news all the way around. It shouldn't even be messed with. The toilet needs flushed at least every 8 years.

586069035[/snapback]

Actually, that is not what that means. While the not retroactive, it would still require him to run for the Presidency every 4 years. This does not grant the person president until they die status. Franklin Roosevelt was President for 3 terms, and he was re-elected each time. The admendment was not introduced until after his retirement from office.

Also this will require 3/4 of the states to Ratify it. This needs to be done at the State level with the admendment passing the legislative branch of 38 states to become valid.

[vincent]

Bad news all the way around. It shouldn't even be messed with. The toilet needs flushed at least every 8 years.

586069035[/snapback]

Flushed?, How bout someone call roto-rooter and come with the snake

[dreamz Veteran]

there are too many clear-headed individuals in the population to let this one go through.

[beardly]

No need to worry. This won't get passed.

[emo]

no chance in hell of this passing...

[j.nudd]

Actually, that is not what that means.  While the not retroactive, it would still require him to run for the Presidency every 4 years.  This does not grant the person president until they die status.  Franklin Roosevelt was President for 3 terms, and he was re-elected each time.  The admendment was not introduced until after his retirement from office.

Also this will require 3/4 of the states to Ratify it.  This needs to be done at the State level with the admendment passing the legislative branch of 38 states to become valid.

586069184[/snapback]

I was hoping someone would mention this. It would be impossible for someone to remain in office for life without being relected. Even if the 22nd amendment was repealed, it would be unlikely that someone that is a bad president would stay in much longer than 2 terms anyway.

[Starcom826]

You can tell this article has bias in how it casually sticks in "hitler admirer" after Arnold Schwarzenegger when it could have said the same exact thing without it. The commentary reeks of bias and I can with 100% certainty guarantee you it won't pass, despite how much all these people would want to prove that Bush is a hitler in disguise and would love to stomp on the U.S. some more.

[dud]

The title of this thread, "Replying to New Bill Could Make Bush President For Life", is like saying the first article of the Constitution makes senators for life. It entirely overlooks the fact that voters, not laws, put the leaders in power.

Whoever wrote that title needs to take a government class.

With that said, politicians are like diapers: they need to be changed often and for the same reason :D We should put term limits on congress and the senate, just as the presidency should also maintain term limits.

This bill is as ridiculous as the one the Democrats wrote up last year where they wanted to institute a draft.

[Matt]

where did you find this garbage? its not going to get passed and again, im loving the hitler analogies coming from democrats. its really sad.

[j.nudd]

The title of this thread, "Replying to New Bill Could Make Bush President For Life", is like saying the first article of the Constitution makes senators for life.  It entirely overlooks the fact that voters, not laws, put the leaders in power.

Whoever wrote that title needs to take a government class.

With that said, politicians are like diapers: they need to be changed often and for the same reason :D  We should put term limits on congress and the senate, just as the presidency should also maintain term limits.

This bill is as ridiculous as the one the Democrats wrote up last year where they wanted to institute a draft.

586070540[/snapback]

It's not a big deal, but the word "could" makes the difference. It technically gives Bush the possiblity of being the president until he dies, but it doesn't mean he will.

Not all politicians are "like diapers" as you have said. Somebody will always be dissatisfied with a politician's views, no matter how good they are at what they do. I'd have to agree though, change is needed quote often, espeically in some offices ;)

[aristotle-dude]

The thing is, if the 22nd Amendment is repealed, they can argue that it's not retroactive (meaning it doesn't matter whether there was a 22nd Amendment when Bush was "elected") so he could possibly stay on until he dies or becomes too old to hold office. Then voters would vote for a new President.

Bad news all the way around. It shouldn't even be messed with. The toilet needs flushed at least every 8 years.

586069035[/snapback]

You people really should read up on your own governments systems before commenting on this stuff.

Term limits mean a limit on the "number" of terms, not the length of the terms.

:rolleyes:

As for whether something like this would pass, Bush did garner the majority of support in over 2/3rds of the states IIRC in the last election.