"An Act of Self-Defense" offers literal take on term limits revolution

Readers of Erne Lewis' "An Act of Self-Defense" who have also read Vince Flynn's "Term Limits" will not be able to help comparing the two. For one thing, both novels revolve around frustrated Americans who target -- literally -- Congress members in a revolutionary attempt to get the federal government under control.

In Lewis' version, the four-person rebel cadre call themselves the Term Limits Revolution and threaten to kill one Congress member per day until a 8-year term limits amendment is passed and sent to the states for ratification. Once they do that, the TLR promised to stand down and the states are free to ratify or reject it.

In the TLR's initial threat to Congress, they argue "Thomas Jefferson believed the failure to include term limits in the Constitution was a fatal error. He predicted another revolution would be necessary to regain the individual rights lost to the power-loving politicians who would, over time, increase their power at the cost of our liberty. Jefferson could not have foreseen that the federal government would today be capable of tracking our every move and communication..."

This last sentence provides much of the suspense that makes this Lewis' first novel a page-turner. The book shows, rather dramatically, how the Patriot Act and other Congressional excesses can be used not only to track down legitimate threats like the TLR, but also misused to harrass innocent Americans by overly aggressive law enforcement or, worse, for purely political reasons.

In one dramatic example, a no-knock warrantless raid on the president of a national term limits advocacy organization -- yikes! -- goes awry with tragic results. And it turns out the target of the raid had no connection or knowledge of the TLR.

Lewis has done his homework, both on the term limits issue and on the new-fangled powers government has usurped by exploiting people's fear of Muslim terrorists following 9/11.

Much like with the Flynn book, the reader finds himself identifying a little too closely with the revolutionaries. Fortunately, in the real world, we may indeed need a term limits revolution, but not one armed with guns and bombs.

COURT: Florida's county term limits are constitutional!

Today the Florida 4th District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that had overturned voter-approved term limits in Broward County.

In other words, the court has ruled that county commissioner term limits are constitutional in Florida.

Yes, Florida’s county commissioner term limits laws are safe (for now) from attack by local politicians via the courts!

It was expected that county term limits would win at the Florida Supreme Court level, but there were concerns about the appellate court case because it looked at a narrower question than home rule and the right of citizens to impose term limits at the county level. The fear was that local politicians would try to use an adverse appellate decision to void local term limits laws before the case got to the Supreme Court. Two Palm Beach County commissioners, for instance, announced they planned to do just that.

But no more.

Today marks a great victory for the voters and a loss for professional politicians.

Thanks to the Broward County attorney’s office for doing a great job in defending the people’s will and all the term limits supporters around the state that rallied behind their popular term limits laws.

For the full story as it unfolded, see the blog www.pbctermlimits.com.

IT'S HAPPENING! Term limits amendment filed in the U.S. House

On Thursday, Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois (pictured), Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona and Jeff Duncan of South Carolina introduced a term limits amendment bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, a companion to Sen. DeMint's term limits bill in the Senate.

This means that for the first time since the early 1990s, there is a serious term limits bill introduced in both houses with cosponsorship. With polling for term limits at its highest level ever, the time is right.

Like the DeMint bill, the amendment would limit the terms of house members to six years and senators to 12.

"If we have any hope of ending business as usual in D.C., we must first change the process," Walsh said in his announcement. "Term limits encourage competitive elections and a consistent influx of new leaders bringing a range of different experiences and new ideas to Congress. Keeping the same Members in Congress year after year will yield the same results – runaway spending and a sky-high debt that has led the United States to the verge of insolvency. It’s time to put an end to this. It’s time to bring in new Members with fresh ideas, ready and eager to serve. It’s time to pass a term limit Amendment."

To pass, the bill must be approved two-thirds of the Congress. This is no easy task. Please help!

+ Please sign our online petition in favor of Congressional term limits and pass a link on to your friends, family and associates.

+ Ask your representative in Congress -- and his or her opponents -- to sign the U.S. Term Limits pledge to support the amendment. Traditionally, candidates speak fondly of term limits until they get elected. The pledge locks in their support once they are the incumbents!

+ Make a contribution to U.S. Term Limits. Founded in 1991, we are the oldest and largest national term limits organization with the experience and resources to get the job done.

After passing Congress, the bill has to pass three-fourths of the states, but this is a much lower hurdle. The problem is getting the Congress to limit itself. That will require igniting the passion of the 78 percent of Americans that tell pollsters they support Congressional term limits.

This new bill is the starting gun in the most important political battle of a generation. Let's take it all the way to the finish line.

Citizens demand revote on El Paso term limits

As reported earlier, some commissioners in El Paso County, Colorado, appear to have used a cleverly worded ballot question to snatch another term in office and the annual $87,300 and other perks that come with it.

Since waking up to the ruse, citizens have been agitating for a second, more straightforward vote to clear up the confusion. Not surprisingly, the perpetrators have tried to avoid this, hoping with time this issue would just go away.

It hasn't.

Instead the clamor has grown to the point where the commission agreed to hold a formal public hearing on the subject Monday, June 27. Then, the issue will appear as an agenda item on Thursday's county commission meeting. Citizens are urged to attend both.

The citizens have two allies on the commission, as Darryl Glenn and Peggy Littleton agree a second vote should be held as soon as possible. But they need one more vote to refer a new ballot question, as county citizen initiatives are not permitted in Colorado.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Commissioner Sallie Clark has asked the county attorney Bill Louis whether the commission has the power to simply rescind the Nov. 2 vote and start over.

The stonewalling is over. This week the commission is all ears. Please take advantage of this opportunity to tell them how you feel.

For more information, see the new citizen website at http://www.elpasocountytermlimits.com/

CLASS STRUGGLE: Politicians versus the People in Missouri

Please help me out with my math here. Something is just not adding up.

In a 2011 vote of the Missouri State Senate, 88 percent of the legislators approved an amendment to abolish their voter-approved eight-year term limit and replace it with a cozier 16-year limit.

In a 2011 poll released this week, 77 percent of Missourians said they oppose precisely this change. Please note this is nearly the same percentage (75 percent) that voted to approve the current term limits law back in 1992.

How can these lopsided figures be reconciled? Maybe the political calculation is all too clear.

There aren't many issues in which the special interests of politicians as a class conflict so directly with the interests and demands of the people. But term limits is one of these.

The respondents in the new poll sum it up well. A full 78 percent of the Missourians polled said that lawmakers who voted to lengthen the terms are "primarily interested in keeping themselves in power," including 65 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of Republicans and 89 percent of independents.

U.S. Term Limits (USTL) commissioned the poll from Pulse Opinion Research conducted among 500 likely Missouri voters, and is now urging members of the state House to reject the proposal, SJR 12, which has already passed the Senate.

The amendment passed the Senate 29 to 4. The stalwart four are worth mentioning for putting the people's interests above their own: State Sens. Jane Cunningham, Jack Goodman, Will Kraus and Brian Nieves. If you know them, thank them for their stand.

If you live in Missouri, let your state representative hear from you right away. You can send an email to Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley here.

Currently, the Missouri state constitution limits state senators to serve two four-year terms in office and state representatives to four two-year terms. They were enacted in 1992 with 75 percent of the vote, going into effect in 2002. No one was limited by this law until 2010.

The Senate is wasting its time and the people’s money by forcing a vote. Even if their amendment rolling back term limits is placed on the ballot, the people will crush it.

(The picture above is from a Missouri Tea Party, 2010.)

Presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson: "I'm a believer in term limits, absolutely"

Now that Sen. Jim DeMint has reintroduced his Term Limits for All amendment with 10 cosponsors, the issue is back on the national stage and we need to hear where all national candidates -- including presidential candidates -- stand.

First to speak out has been former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico, who is a presidential candidate in all but paperwork (although this too might change on April 21).

Johnson includes term limits as a theme in all his stump speeches. Although mild mannered in person, he is remembered as the governor who vetoed 750 bills and was willing to speak out on controversial issues, such as marijuana legalization.

In typical Johnson fashion, he proclaimed on the Colbert Report television program as early as last May that "I was term limited, Stephen, but i'm a believer in term limits, absolutely. I think politicians will do things they wouldn't ordinarily do when they are term limited, and I probably come under that category. Would I have been as bold?"

DeMint bill is back -- with 10 cosponsors!

For the first time in over a decade, term limits has reemerged as a major issue in Washington DC. Yesterday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) reintroduced his amendment for Congressional term limits -- this time with 10 cosponsors on day one! -- and a House companion is expected to be introduced imminently.

This shot across the bow of Washington's entrenched incumbency is occurring in an environment where some 78 percent of Americans are telling pollsters they want Congressional term limits. It is a bipartisan call, with 84 percent Republican support and 74 from both Democrats and independents.

Americans laughed derisively at Congress after a week of political rodeo in which the parties locked horns, even threatening to shut down the government, over less than $1 billion in budget cuts, according to the Government Accounting Office.

In a body based on seniority in which special interest-backed incumbents almost never lose elections, what else could be expected? Sure, they put on a good show for their respective bases by battling each other at the margins, but in the end the leadership in both parties and in the House and Senate have the same job: they have to keep their big special interest constituencies on the government dole.

The budget battle underscores the need for institutional reform, for term limits. And the DeMint bill is real term limits, mandating a maximum three consecutive terms in the House and two in the Senate. The leadership of both parties and their lap dogs in the media will try to ignore this bill. We cannot let them.

Please take action today:

1) Sign the online petition here supporting the DeMint 3/2 term limits bill.

2) Forward a link to this page to everyone you know.

3) Support U.S. Term Limits with a financial contribution to help promote the bill.

As cosponsor Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued in an earlier post on this blog, the time is now for term limits. Let's push this issue to the top of our agendas and take advantage of an opportunity to change Washington forever.