The Twenty-second Amendment

Democracy is a bold experiment; the art of self-governance of and for the people has always been far from perfect, has always been opposed by those who hold power (political power is just one form of power), has the potential of destroying itself by electing someone who refuses to give up power at the end of their term in office, needs a strong constitution to protect individual rights as to prevent the dreaded "tyranny of the 51%", and so on.

_{Image by Sebastian Baryli - source: Flickr}

A dictatorship or kingdom is so much simpler, isn't it? Some believe that just getting rid of government would make things so much simpler as well. Democracy is a mess at times, that's true, but it could be argued that this is a perfect representation of the complexities that are inherent to the "art of living together" in very large groups; in a group of a billion people you'll find a billion opinions about how the billion people should be governed, this is just a fact of life. Throughout history and all over the world we're constantly trying to find that perfect balance between the extremities of one all powerful ruler on one hand, and every person ruling themselves on the other. Or, that's one way of looking at it; another way is to recognize and to say that most people just want to live their lives peacefully and prosperously, and as long as that's possible, they couldn't care less about how their country is governed.

Democracy is an ongoing experiment and in some ways far more complicated than quantum physics. Waves and particles seamlessly morph from one to the other, and it's not always clear which is which, just like facts and opinions seamlessly morph into each other in political debates, and it's not always clear which is which; we even have "alternative facts" now ;-) Anyhow, today I was thinking about the situation in Bolivia, where president Evo Morales has resigned, stepped down, or was forced to step down in a military coupe; it depends on the one reporting which version we get. Morales has been in power since 2006 and his term ended on November 10 2019. He convincingly won all the elections that made him stay in power for that long, but he also used his rule to change Bolivia's constitution to put an end to term-limits for the presidency, which enabled him to be elected for a third and fourth time; it could be argued that this is a very authoritarian thing to do and many people do see it that way. In their eyes Morales is an authoritarian, and they will not see the request of the military for Morales to step down as a coupe.

On the other hand, Morales was the first indigenous leader in a country that had been traditionally ruled by a white or Hispanic minority while its population is largely composed of indigenous Indians. The country has flourished during his rule on all metrics: poverty is down 50%, GDP is up 300% and the country's resources (lithium and gas mainly) are being used for the Bolivian people, where they used to be exploited by right wing neoliberals and foreign powers. This is a recurring scenario in Latin America: as soon as a leftist leader tries to govern for their own country, some right wing take-over takes place. This is business as usual; also in the Middle East we install puppet regimes through military interventions or CIA operations as to ensure a steady flow of the cheap resources we so badly need to maintain our copious western lifestyles. I say "we" although I'm not an American, but I'm not naive enough to not realize that my copious lifestyle is supported by America's imperialist wars as well.

In 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt won a third term. He also won a fourth term in 1944. Roosevelt was president through the Great Depression of the 1930's and almost all of World War II. He held approval ratings in the mid-50% to the low 60% ranges over his many years in office. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in April of 1945, just months after the start of his fourth term. Soon after, Republicans in Congress began the work of creating Amendment XXII. Roosevelt was the first and only President to serve more than two terms.
_{source: Wikipedia}

Okay, trying to stick to the point: what struck me in all of this is the way we look at democracy and authoritarianism. We're so used to having a maximum limit to the presidency in almost all democracies all over the world, that we just take it for granted. Let's say Trump gets elected for another term (yeah I know: the horror), and he manages to remove somehow the Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution, and he gets re-elected a third time, a fourth time... That would be just up this authoritarian's alley, now wouldn't it? It would be a disaster for the American people to suffer his rule for that long... This is how I would react. But is it right to react like that? I mean, if a majority of the people vote for him, if he wins all these elections convincingly, wouldn't then the term limit itself be the anti-democratic obstacle here?

It's important to notice that term limits were not part of the original Constitution. The Twenty-Second Amendment was added, initiated by Republicans, but implemented and ratified by Democrats as well, only after FDR held the office for four terms. FDR was an immensely popular president who's New Deal got America through the Great Depression and provided jobs and income and workers rights to millions of Americans. So, it's a bit bewildering to me that socialist leaders in Latin America are depicted as dictators, authoritarians who desperately want to hold on to their power, when someone like Angela Merkel from Germany gets no such critique after her 13 year rule.

I don't agree with the conclusion of David Pakman in the below linked video: in my eyes the situation in Bolivia is clearly a coupe, and the country will suffer because of it. This is just one small aspect to consider while consuming the news from Bolivia and other countries where there are resources we need (lithium is needed for batteries and Bolivia has one of the greatest reserves of the stuff), but it's an aspect that concerns everyone, as democracy is everyone's concern. Or at least, it should be in my opinion ;-)

_{Lunatic Religious Nut Seizes Power in Bolivia}

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