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SHOULD ROOSEVELT SEEK
■ Mrs. America: "But I thought he'd just come for a visit."
NO/
BY RAYMOND MOLEY
YES/
BY ROY VICTOR PEEL
I DON'T think the President should have a third term. And this is why:
There are certain characteristics about a human being that can readily be understood and that are common to all. If you stab a human being he will bleed. If you shut him up without air he will die. If you touch him with a hot iron he will be burned. If you strike him he will either shrink away or fight back. If you give him too much power he will abuse it. This is a danger inherent in human nature (now I'm not talking about Franklin Roosevelt, I'm talking about any man) and it is the best purpose of human government to limit power in the interest of freedom, and, so far as possible, to divorce it from personalities.
Even the most casual observation of human beings in possession of power reveals that the thirst for power is the original sin of rulers. It grows by what it feeds on, dulling the perceptions, clouding the vision and leading its victims away from that contact with reality which is the very essence of democracy. There is an impatience of restraint, an (Continued on page 53)
o.
'BVIOUSLY, the Constitution places no restriction on the number of terms that a President may occupy the office. There is nothing anywhere in the Constitution limiting this.
The third term is, therefore, clearly constitutional.
While the prejudice against the third term has been sedulously cultivated by the politicians, by the discontented and the ambitious, there is no ground at all for believing that the principle is more than a custom, which is foreign to our constitutional system, lacking any authoritative support, and existing only because its abolition has not been urged at a propitious time.
The practice of keeping leaders in power as long as they are giving satisfactory service and inspired direction to affairs, is a cardinal principle in American business and associational life. Imagine what a shock it would be if the president of one of our larger corporations were removed from his office simply because he had served eight years. Even more to the point is the practice in our states and cities where able and efficient governors and mayors are not (Continued on page 53)
Condensed from a debate by Professor Peel and Professor Moley, broadcast over station WEVD, New York City, and arranged under the auspices of the Rand School of Social Science
JUNE, 1939
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