Trump re-election no path to dictatorship

I must take issue with the letter of Feb. 24, titled "A would-be dictator." The writer expresses the fear that if Donald Trump is reelected and the House and Senate should become Republican majorities, Trump would then be in a position to repeal Amendment 22, the one which limits a president to two terms.

It takes a lot more than this to even begin to repeal an amendment - which takes an amendment to undo a previous amendment. It takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber to propose an amendment and then that proposal must be ratified by three fourths of the states. This has happened only once - the adoption of Amendment 21 which repealed Amendment 18 (prohibition).

The only other way that a repeal of any amendment can be initiated is by a "convention of states," which must be called by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states. As of 2016, almost 12,000 amendment proposals have been initiated by Congress and all but one have failed to reach fruition. The most recent amendment adopted, the 27th in 1992, was first proposed in 1789. This is the one which prohibits Congress from changing its own compensation (pay) during a term. So, the advent of an all-Republican administration most assuredly would not pave the way for Trump to become a "dictator."

Don Buck

Wheaton