Term Limits

07/26/19 • 43 min

Keith discusses Congressional term limits with Philip Blumel in this episode. Philip is the President of U.S. Term Limits, an organization dedicated to promoting term limits for Congress via an Article V Convention for proposing Amendments. The discussion was recorded at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit 2018, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida, in December 2018.

After the discussion took place a term limits Amendment bill was sponsored in the U.S. Senate by Senator Ted Cruz. A Senate Judiciary Committee Constitution subcommittee hearing was held on term limits with several guest speakers offering testimony. Clips of two of the people testifying before the Senate are included, with explanations of why Congressional term limits are desirable.

Previous Episode

Declaration of Independence

This Independence Day celebration episode starts with a 2 minute group recitation of an abridged version of the Declaration of Independence.
It was done using all original wording, skipping some phrases, to create a quick, easy to understand version intended to get across the essence of what the founders said on July 4, 1776. Two minutes of dedicated time and most people should understand the gist of it.
The Declaration recital is followed by Keith discussing what the Declaration means, its history, why the founders dissolved all ties with the King of England in 1776, and its Natural Law justification.
The episode closes with noting that some of the reasons the founders abolished their form of government and created a new one apply today. As the Declaration says, "let facts be submitted to a candid world".
Does the Declaration's listed grievance "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance" sound familiar? Keith notes he doesn't like that either.
The founders provided a mechanism for the people, through their States, to alter the form of government using Article V of the Constitution. Please see https://conventionofstates.com/?ref=32551 for how the people can return D.C. to the limited and expressly delegated roles the founders intended when they wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson altered his form of government, and in doing so showed us how and why we should do so too.

Next Episode

Federal Deficits and the National Debt with Professor Nick Giordano

Today’s episode is on the National Debt and the Federal government's yearly deficits. We have guest Nicholas Giordano, Professor of Political Science at Suffolk County Community College in NY, part of the SUNY system.
Professor Giordano is a former Catastrophic Planning Lead for the New York State Office of Emergency Management. He teaches courses on American Government and World Politics/International Relations. He has appeared on Fox News, providing analysis on current issues and trends within government, politics, international relations, homeland security/emergency management, and social/cultural related issues.
The current National Debt is either about $23T, or about $200T, depending on which accounting practices are used. The $200T figure includes unfunded liabilities, which only governments get away with ignoring.
Deficits have been run each year by our central government's Congress and President regardless of which party in power. Evidently one clear broadly bi-partisan position in D.C. is that it is fine to borrow money from our grandchildren to pay for whatever they want today. The total National Debt has steadily climbed for many decades, with it doubling during all of the recent presidential terms.

The debt per year is shown at the link below from 1916 to 2019, with 2020 and 2021 estimated, using data reported by the U.S. Treasury. This bill will eventually come due. What will happen to the US economy then? We don't know, but it won't be pretty. The current system is not sustainable and the central government's mainstream politicians continue to ignore it.

One of the three topics in an Article V Convention for proposing Amendments being pursued by Convention of States Action is mandating fiscal responsibility on the central government. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution proposed and ratified by the individual States - without involving D.C. - may be the only way to stop Congress and the President from a ludicrous level of borrowing until our economy collapses.
The founders foresaw situations such as this, where the problem is the Federal government. Congress and the President are unlikely to enact limitations on themselves that reduce their own power, and SCOTUS is fully on board the expansion of federal power. One way to deal with this without waiting for an economic collapse is to follow the Convention process under Article V.
https://www.thebalance.com/national-debt-by-year-compared-to-gdp-and-major-events-3306287

Year Debt Debt/GDP

2020 est. $24T 106%

2019 $22.8T 106%

2018 $21.5T 105%

2017 $20.2T 103%

2016 $19.6T 104%

Professor Giordano hosts the weekly "PAS Report" Podcast, available on standard podcast applications including Apple Podcast/iTunes. This show is recommended for in depth analysis of current events from a factual, historical, and Constitutional perspective. Nick's PAS Report does this without the drama, misrepresentation, and indoctrination common in legacy media today.