by Nick Tomboulides
Since making the jump from medicine to politics in 2010, Rand Paul has been a consistent advocate for citizen legislators. Paul co-sponsored the U.S. Term Limits amendment in the Senate, and even introduced his own amendment to limit congressional terms.
Today, in his first speech as a candidate for president in 2016, Paul showed he has every intention to remain a leader in the term limits movement. He told a packed house in Louisville that if “we limit the president to two terms, it’s about time we limit the terms of Congress.”
The line got huge cheers, and a “term limits now” poster quickly became visible in the crowd. Paul said he knew term limits were a good idea before getting to Washington, and unlike his colleagues, has only been convinced by his experience that they are more necessary.
“There is no monopoly on knowledge there,” he said of our nation’s capitol.
Paul is not the only presidential candidate to show enthusiasm for term limits. Fellow Republicans Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush have both endorsed the idea, with Bush having presided over a term-limited legislature here in Florida.
While the president does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, he or she will have an unmatched bully pulpit from which to advocate for implementation. A chief executive pointing out the hypocrisy of a Congress that holds him to eight-year limits while allowing itself indefinite tenure could be the missing piece needed to achieve term limits.
Stay tuned for more on the exciting 2016 race.