[AF] Term Limits

[Glen Kippel]

On 5/1/07, PeterH5322 <peterh5322 at rattlebrain.com> wrote:
>
>
> >The founders NEVER in their wildest dreams figured on career
> >politicians.  They were primarily farmers/businessmen who worked at
> >government part time and thought that no one would want to be in
> government
> >full time.
>
> They were idealists, and believed in the basic "good" of man, but
> remained skeptical about the practical "good" of government.
>
> They were also deists, and did not wear a specific religion on their
> sleeves, although they may have been, nominally, Episcopalian, C of E,
> Presbyterian, etcetera.
>
> -------------


>From what I have read, most of them subscribed to the Christian (and
specifically, Calvinist) doctrine of the depravity of man.  This is why they
set up the "checks and balances" system of government.  One or two may have
been a deist, but when the U.S. Constitution was being written, the subject
of a religious test for office was considered.  (Several States had such a
test in their constitutions.)  There was expressed concern that without such
a requirement that only Christians hold public office, that "pagans,
Mohometans or deists" might serve in Congress.  If they were all deists, no
one would have mentioned this.  Thus, the contention that the Founders were
deists is spurious.