European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday november28, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 Cal Thomas to hear the big Media Tell it nov. 8 was armageddon doomsday and the end of civilization As we be known it. And there has been no let up in the three weeks since the election. Abc s Peter Jennings slandered the voters compar ing them to toddlers throwing a fit. Its Cleavi that anger control the child and not the other Way around said the Canadian born Jennings in a radio commentary. The voters had a temper Tantrum. The nation can t be run by an angry 2-year-old."why do liberals such As Jennings refuse to believe it was their failed ideas not voter anger that did them in the press has been especially Tough on Newt Gingrich portraying him As an ideological tasmanian Devil spinning out of control and damaging anything that gets in his Way. The new York times Dis misses the gop contract with America As brutal and has called Gingrich and his band of ideologues mean spirited intolerant even  Mccarthy probably wishes his name would be Laid to rest. But his ghost has been invoked again mos recently by lbs news Eric Engberg who managed to use the words Barbaric and ruthless in the Sam sentence linking Gingrich to Mccarthy. The Media research Center s notable quotable publication normally takes up two sides of a single Sheet but its Post election edition was four  network time Newsweek and selected newspapers from big cities Sang the same  s Bryant Gumbel whose increasingly partisan commentaries ought to be labelled As editorials said this to the newly elected Black congressman . Watts you re aligned to a party which owes Many fits victories to the so called religious right and other conservative extremists who Are historically insensitive to minority concerns. That does t bother you to Jack Kemp the following Day Gumbel said these called Christian coalition As you know is claiming a great Deal of credit for gop victories across the  you not at All concerned about where their Brand of some would say extremism or intolerance May yet try to take your party Many in the big Media said president Clinton got a mandate for change in the 1992 election though he received just 43 percent of the vote but the Republican landslide nov. 8 was not a mandate according to . News & world report writer Steve Roberts who said on Cnoc s equal time they Are not voting Republican. They Are voting against a lot of unhappiness in their own lives. I turn right my Coop Man think it s very easy for republicans to make the Sam mistake that the democrats made in thinking that somehow we be been Given this great mandate. They have got to be practical. They have got to com Promise. This is not an anti government  the hyperbolic rantings of the big Media Are amazing to watch. Weren t these people the self a cartoonists & writers Syndicate pointed guardians of civil discourse perhaps this election was also a rejection of the big Media. If they and their Liberal friends want to believe otherwise let them. Continuing to think this Way will really give them something to cry about in 1996. C los Angeles times courts on tuesday morning Arkans Aswill have 45 minutes in the supreme court to defend the constitutionality of state imposed term limits of the sort it and 21 other states have applied to . Senators and representatives. Forty five minutes should  a defense in fewer than 720 words or. Chief Justice May it please the court. Although election returns Are no germane to your deliberations some opponents of term limits assert that recent electoral turbulence renders term limits unnecessary As a Means of dislodging entrenched incumbents. Actually about 90 percent of congressional incumbents on the ballot nov. 8 won. Granted various scandals House Bank House Post office Illinois demo crat Dan Rostenkowski Etc and generalized mis governance have recently produced rates of turnover unusual by modern although not by pre-1950 Stan Dards. However americans by a 3-to-Lmargin, wish to use term limits to pro Mote Good government Rathe than re Lyon recurring disgust to produce periodic churning of the political , dislodging entrenched incumbents is not the Only or even the Pri Mary reason for term limits. The primary reason is to remove careerism As a motive for entering electoral politics and for unsatisfactory behaviour while in office. The question before the court is can states constitutionally achieve this by imposing term limits on their own congressional delegations those who deny that states have this right say the Constitution stipulates three qualifications for membership in con Gress age citizenship and inhabit Ancy in the state fro which a person is elected and that these Are the Only permissible qualifications. This second assertions demonstrably false As this court noted in Storr v. Brown 1974state evolved pensive Many. / have compre and in George  respect Complex election codes regulating in most substantial ways with respect tooth Federal and state elections. Many matters including the selection and qualification of  a number of states require Candi dates for the House of representatives to live in the District they wish to rep resent and states require various Resi Dency periods. Are these states acting unconstitutionally by enforcing an additional qualification for office various states require candidates to pre sent various kinds of petitions to secure a Cess to the ballot. Most states require Candi dates to declare affiliations with parties. Some states prohibit candidates who have lost in primaries from running in general elections. Other states prohibit holders of certain offices from being candidates for the . Senate or House. If the court Cut Down state imposed term limits As an impermissible additional qualification the scythe of the court s logic will mow Down Laws in most perhaps in All states. But surely a reasonable Reading of the Plain text of the Constitution confirms what the Constitution s Structure and spirit strongly imply in our federalism of dual sovereignty states have Broad scope for experimentation and diversity in regulating their Politi Cal processes. As Jefferson wrote the Constitution imposes some qualifications for membership in the House and Senate but it does not declare itself that the member shall not be a Lunatic a pauper a convict of treason of murder of felony or other infamous crime or a non Resi Dent of his District nor does it prohibit to the state the Power of declaring these Orang other disqualifications which its particular circumstances Call for and these May be different in different states. Of course then by the 10th amendment the Power is reserved to the  critics of state imposed term limit argue that the Constitution does not explicitly Grant states permission to add qualifications. That is use but immaterial Given the Plain text of the 10thamendment the Powers not delegated to the United states by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states Are re served to the states respectively or to the  Jefferson was surely Correct that the Constitution s three qualifications Are minimum defining a floor above which states acting As laboratories of Liberty Are free to Rise with additional qualifications reasonably related to legitimate state goals. Such goals include competitive political processes shaped to enhance the likelihood of electing deliberative representatives. Jefferson s understanding accords with historic practices including those of the founders Era. For example James Madison the father of the Constitution was elected under a Virginia Law that went beyond the three minimum qualifications Virginia required congressional candidates to be property owners. If the court now rules against Arkansas it must say that neither Madison nor Jeffer son understood the Constitution. So sense of the ridiculous As Well As an understanding of the text Structure and spirit of the Constitution As a charter of a Federal system of limited delegated and enumerated Powers should cause the court to affirm the right of states to impose Ter limits. C Washington the opinion apr my to the column end cartoon on this pm apr it Ltd of nut nor and a in no Way to m con Jar or or a Tang Tho of the Star and strip or to Una a sure government