I do not believe it will diminish this institution. I think it will help the institution as it has in our States as Governors and in our cities as mayors. This device has been a useful tool to bring contemporary thought to invigorate the debate of ideas to our institutions.

I commend the Senator from Tennessee, I commend the Senator from Missouri, and others who have joined in this historic effort to bring this institutional change.

The Senator was talking about the vast difference in our times. It was de Tocqueville who warned us of the one frailty he saw in our new democracy which was that as time went on, would it be able to have the will to discipline itself from the pressures of elections, the pressure to stay elected mounting a burden on that constantly seeking of elections? I think it is right to raise that issue because it is clearly an issue of independence and intimidation that has produced a financial dilemma for our country that could bring about the fact that we are sitting here today in the U.S. Senate faced with, in the decade, five different programs consuming 100 percent of the U.S. Treasury. It is clearly a result of a citizenry that is

not functioning the way our forefathers intended it to function.

So I commend you and the others, and I am pleased to have had an opportunity to come to the floor.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

[Page: S3721]

Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Georgia. He has been a leader in this effort for some time and a leader before I got here. I would like to refer again to the thought that he expressed, that term limits would not diminish this institution; it would enhance the institution, going back to the proposition of restoration, and restoring it.

Mr. Will pointed out in his book that back when the country was founded, people would line the streets and say, `Long live Congress, long live Congress.' Can you imagine someone--anyone--much less lining the streets, today saying `Long live Congress'?

I think this would do more to enhance the U.S. Congress in the eyes of the American people, make it a part of them, and open it up for them. It would give the 250 million people in this country--we have 250 million. They say, `My goodness, if we had term limits, we would not have had Senator Jones here for all of these years. We all acknowledge that our Republic would surely have fallen if we had not had Senator Jones.' But we have 250 million people. How many potentially wonderful contributors to our society are there out there, if we open up that system for them and let them compete in the political marketplace without having to overcome the insurmountable odds and money that our system has thrown in their way?

I see my colleague from Missouri, whom I am proud to say I have walked shoulder to shoulder with through this process. He and I have been here. No one has worked harder in this area. I see he is present.

I yield the floor.

Mr. ASHCROFT addressed the Chair.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coverdell). The Senator from Missouri.

Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, thank you very much. I want to thank the Senator from Tennessee for his leadership and commitment on this issue.

Term limits, at its core, is about fundamental American values. More than anything else, a free society respects the will of the people. It is understood that from time to time the passion of the people will move wildly in one direction or other. But when we are talking about term limits, we are not talking about some passionate wave of support for a novel concept.

Term limits is a considered understanding of a reform which is working. It is a limitation on service that has been operative for the duration of our democracy in terms of the executive branch, with the exception of President Roosevelt. It is in place in States all across America. So it is indeed consistent with one of the basic values upon which this Nation was founded--a respect for the will of the people.

Our ability to receive communication from the people and to respond constructively is one of the reasons that I have sponsored and opened the first electronic on-line petition to the Congress of the United States, from the people of the United States, so that groups and individuals can show their support for congressional term limits.