Show THIRD TERMS FOR presidents AND SECH there is a lot of speculation these days as to whether franklin D roosevelt should shatter precedent by running for a third term in the white house to our way of thinking some people are getting unduly excited about the matter these same people who feel so outraged about the possibility of the president going before the electorate a third time for their suffrage were not at all dismayed at the idea of members of the supreme court holding office for life and thwarting the will of the majority by doing so and invalidating the laws that the majority passed and sanctioned that was quite all right and they went into connul bons at the mere suggestion of the president to change their political complexion by the infusion of a little new blood into their body politic if it is wrong for a president to hold office more than eight years it t ought to be wrong for members of the supreme court to remain on the bench longer than eight or nine years we think the term of supreme justices should be placed at say nine years with one retiring each year and a new member being appointed to the seat vacated that would prevent a reactionary group of supreme justices from inflicting their will upon a reluctant majority for more than four or five years at most and certainly in a democracy like ours the majority of the people should have the right to govern and prescribe the laws by which they are to be governed if t the he terms of supreme and other federal court jurist were fi fied ed at nine years then it might be all right to tiling about reducing the term of presidents to about the same number of years but in the meantime there is no law to prevent a president from running for a third or fourth term if he sees fit and the matter rests in the hands of the people where it rightfully belongs when the majority decides that he has rounded out his period of usefulness they have a chance to retire him by the exercise of the franchise while in the case of supreme justices they are given no such alternative but must submit to distasteful highhanded high handed decisions until death or voluntary resignation removes them lets be fair and reasonable about this question of extended terms in office remember sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and if we are going to balk at a third term for presidents why not apply the same mea measuring surin stick all the way down the line we could pick out a number of political repeaters and lifers that could well be dispensed with who are occupying high places in in this and in adjoining states As a matter of fact a public official does not get onto the job and capable of doing his best work until after he has served at least one or two terms in office but he should at all times be subject to the will of his constituents even by the invocation of the right of recall if he fails to perform his duties and disregards the interests of his constituents |