Musings on Preserving Civilian Supremacy in Democracy with Term Limits

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., June 21, 2025

Last Saturday there was a parade in Washington, DC, to celebrate Trump’s 79th birthday and the Army’s 250th birthday.  As a retired Army veteran I applauded the No Kings celebrations around the country that supported George Washington’s example of humble service for America’s presidents; but any resemblance of Trump to Washington is purely coincidental.

The U.S. military is a paradox.  It’s an authoritarian regime in a Constitutional democracy that preserves and protects the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly.  Russia and Israel are democracies that provide no protection for civilian supremacy, allowing Putin and Netanyahu unlimited power to promote wars of aggression to expand their boundaries in Ukraine and Gaza. 

If that were not enough political and religious conflict to destabilize the world, consider Islam, which is often at war with Christianity and Zionism.  There is a need for universal religious principles to reconcile the fundamental differences in these religions, and the greatest commandment of Jesus can provide God’s standard of altruism to begin the process.

Jesus was a Jew who taught the universal greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves.  It’s taken from the Hebrew Bible and has been accepted as a common word of faith by Jews, Christians, and Muslims as a moral imperative of faith; and it can reconcile their most contentious religious issues.

FDR was the only U.S. President to serve more than the Constitutional limit of two terms.  He died in office in 1945 in his third term.  The Russian constitution was amended to allow Putin to stay in office until 2036; and Israel's parliamentary government doesn’t have a Constitution, allowing Netanyahu to remain in power so long as he is Israel’s Prime Minister.

Trump has hinted that he may defy the limits of the U.S. Constitution and seek a third term.  Hitler and Putin have demonstrated how an unholy coalition of civilian and military power can overcome legal term limits and the moral power of a strong church, allowing a determined demagogue to ”trump” constitutional limits and traditional moral standards.

David French has noted a dark side to an impulsive and unpredictable President Trump who has sought the support of radical Christian nationalists in the past.  That’s all the more reason to limit Trump to two terms. Paul Harvey once observed that voters are the only real stewards of democracy who can hold a President accountable to the Constitution and the moral standards of political legitimacy needed to preserve their rights and avoid unnecessary wars.

It will take Constitutional term limits and the continued vigilance of voters to preserve civilian supremacy in America and to avoid unnecessary wars.  Trump’s public morality is the antithesis of that taught by Jesus, yet in spite of that most Christians elected him as their President in both 2016 and 2024.  I hope Americans can be better stewards of democracy in the midterm elections and in the presidential election of 2028.

Notes:

David French has written on the problem of the recent “Christian assassin” in Minnesota.  See  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/opinion/minnesota-killings-boelter.html.

W.J. Hennigan has written on the need for a functioning Congress to hold Trump accountable as he considers more disruptive actions to expand his power. See Trump Might Get Us into Another War.  Where’s Congress? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/opinion/trump-iran-war-congress.html.  

Jamelle Bouie has written on immigration.  See  Maybe Trump and Miller Don’t Understand immigration in America as Well as They Think They Do, at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/opinion/trump-miller-immigration-ice.html.