By Jonathan Walters

It is more than ironic that it took the worst case of terrorism in our history to expose one of the least democratic policies our country has ever harbored. No, I’m not talking about the detaining of possible terrorism suspects on the flimsiest pretense (something that, at the moment, I’m in favor of, actually). I’m talking about term limits.

One of the most anti-democratic and pitifully simplistic quick-fixes to sweep this country in recent times has been the term-limit fervor, as states and localities from California to New York City have become hosts to initiatives to cap consecutive terms by elected officials. These caps were typically pushed by activists frustrated with the power of incumbency. Their solution: Take the power to vote for incumbents away from the people. Those of us who lined up against terms limits called these corrosively inane efforts “stop-me-before-I-vote-again” initiatives.

And so in New York City we have the spectacle of an overwhelmingly popular sitting mayor struggling to deal with the aftermath of the September 11th terrorism attacks, while at the same time also having to struggle with questions about whether he’d like to serve another term or whether he merely wants his current term extended. Well it’s no mystery what Rudy Giuliani wants or what the people of New York City want.

But right now they can’t have it. Instead, we get the truly absurd spectacle of New Yorkers traipsing to the polls a week ago, through the lingering dust and smoke of an attack on our democracy, and the vast majority of them weren’t being allowed to vote for the mayoral candidate they wanted.

I’m pretty used to being out of step with the rest of America in my opinions about things. And so it’s certainly gratifying when an entire city all of a sudden realizes that they’ve been part of a conspiracy that denied them one of their most fundamental rights: the right to vote for whomever they damn well please come election time. After all, you never know when that person who you’re not being allowed to vote for might be just the right one for the job.

Jonathan Walters is a staff correspondent for Governing.

Recently in View:

Red-Light ‘Rights’: saving lives, if not common sense (posted September 26, 2001)

Post-Terrorism Politics: the beneficiaries of the attacks (posted September 18, 2001)

The Ignoble Among Us: cockroaches and tragedy (posted September 17, 2001)

We’re All the Government Now: when terror blurs the lines (posted September 14, 2001)

River of Dreams: a riverfront and unrealistic aspirations (posted September 10, 2001)

Complete index of previous columns

 
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