Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Why Politics?

I enjoy following politics and I also enjoy writing so a blog on politics just makes sense for me. I hope to be able to keep up with this blog. We shall see. It will probably sometimes just be my political rants, but others I hope to provide info on upcoming bills that I think are important.

One of the things I find frustrating about politics is how hard it is to get at the truth. Both sides stretch, exaggerate and leave out important pieces of information. It's hard to know if you're ever getting the full story. That's a big thing I want to address on this blog too. I enjoy digging and finding the truth. Or at least as close to the truth as one can find. Getting both sides, providing context and trying to get unbiased info. That's my aim. Yes, I do lean to one side more than the other. But I don't like to see purposely misleading information from EITHER side.

I'm going to just jump right in. For starters I'm going to address an issue I've seen making the rounds lately. People are calling Obama a dictator and saying that he is going to try to get a third term. In fact, there's legislation being proposed to do just that. Just more proof that this administration is evil and out for power, right?

Well, not so fast. First of all, you have to repeal the 22nd amendment for that to happen. You know the 22nd amendment - the one that Congress passed in 1947 that prevents a president from serving more than 2 full terms. That pesky little thing. Actually, it's true that there is legislation out there to repeal it. H.J. Res 15 to repeal the 22nd amendment was introduced by Jose Serrano on January 6 - yes that's true. But when you look at the context, you find that the sponsor of this bill has been proposing this legislation since Clinton was in office apparently. He inherently thinks that presidents need more than 2 terms to accomplish anything. And it's also important to note that he never gets any cosponsors on this so chances of it happening are nil, I'd say. There's some good info on this at Fact Check:

Third Term for Obama?



And more info about it at GovTrack:
GovTrack info

And here's an example of what the right says about it...

Red State's Take on it

 Here is Serrano's web site. I looked for an explanation from him on this legislation but found none.
Jose Serrano's web site

And this from Fox News:
  Serrano tries to alter constitution....again

Even Fox admits that this legislation has no chance. From the link above,


"However, the 12-term congressman likely faces long odds, as before, considering the resolution has no sponsors, never got a vote last year in the Republican-controlled House, needs two-thirds support in both chambers and ratification from roughly 75 percent of state legislatures.

Serrano, who represents south Bronx and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has yet to respond to a request for comment.
H.J. Res. 17 now goes to the House Judiciary Committee.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only president to serve more than two terms -- his presidency, which lasted into a fourth term before he died, preceded the passage of the 22nd Amendment."


So, though technically there is legislation out there that if passed would give Obama a third term, chances of that happening are highly unlikely and not worth worrying about. Just more fear-mongering, in my humble opinion.