Arlen Specter and the Case for Term Limits
President James Madison, considered by many to be the “Father of the Constitution” and author of over a third of the Federalist Papers, wrote that legislators should be “called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature and continued in appointment for a short period of office.” President Abraham Lincoln stated during the Gettysburg Address “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” No honest person would argue that both these presidents were not only brilliant statesman, but also possessed an intellect rarely matched. They would also agree that both men believed wholeheartedly in the importance of a citizen legislature.
But not even these great visionaries could have predicted the level of disdain for the political process as we are witnessing in Pennsylvania today.