Wasn't it Roosevelt that was in power for over 8 years ? People kept voting for him. So politicians out of fear that a dictatorship or somesort of Caudillo would place itself, changed the rules of the game to what we have now.

Your suggestion is a good one. Under those terms a President would have time to allow his policies to take effect. And maybe thats why, they made it a 4 year term. What if the President sucked big time. Better to kick the bastard out sooner than later.

First of all, have to give credit to John, who wrote about this in January 2005. His thoughts on what he calls the Curmudgeon Party are worth a read.

@Inciteful - Thanks for suggesting that entry, John. I left some comments there.

@ClimbUpTreesToLookForFish - With or without multiple terms?

@CurryPuffy - @Zissu25 - @Fatcat723 - I can understand the concern that with a six-year term you might get someone you aren't happy with. At the same time, I feel that a four-year term really doesn't give a President the time to put his stamp on America so when it comes time to vote for re-election, we perhaps can't really evaluate the extent to which the President is or is not effective.

@The_Eyes_Of_A_Painter - Yes, it was Franklin Roosevelt whose multiple re-elections spurred lawmakers to propose a change to the Constitution. Those were extraordinary times.

@ZSA_MD - Watching it from 9000 miles away is like watching a volcano start to erupt.

Dear Chris,

Interesting thoughts here. I recently read an article about local politicians in California, where I live. Supposedly, our politicians are supposed to be "citizen politicians" who only serve for a term or two, and then go back to public life, however history shows that most politicians get sucked into all the perks of political life, and are forever campaigning and switching jobs (due to term limits), leading long political lives.

Sometimes I think the whole theory of American politics should be rethought. What's happening this year on the beltway is disgusting. I predicted Obama would prove to be in over his head, but I didn't realize that with the Republican party nearly splitting down the middle (cons vs. tea partiers) that business in Washington would nearly grind to a halt.

World economics bothers me too. The EU seems to be going down the drain. All currencies seem to depend upon futures speculation, sort of like playing poker with world's money as far as I can ascertain, and this is what causes such wide swings and 'corrections' (or stock market crashes). It would seem that somebody "in charge" should be able to manage a more stable economy. However, I'm one to talk. I borrowed heavily at high interest rates and am paying for it now.

Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool