This research argues that the term limit phenomenon has many of the characteristics associated with social movements, but it has failed to develop fully into a movement. The nascent movement that began to emerge in the early 1990s was hijacked by a small clique of wealthy individuals who sought to control rather than expand the movement. The evidence presented in this research identifies the small clique as friends of Edward H. Crane and contributors to the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank over which Crane presides. The hijacking is documented using data collected from primary and secondary sources and by examining the term limit initiative campaigns in the states from 1990 until 1995.
The small clique, but dominant clique, limited the role of the mass public and marginalized another faction of activists who saw term limits as a way to make government more open and responsive. The second faction is composed of the remnants of the phenomenon's movement phase. This research identifies the intellectual and political leader of the second faction as Cleta Deatherage Mitchell, former Oklahoma state legislator and current director of the Term Limits Legal Institute.
While elites are present in all movements, the term limit elite is uncharacteristically narrow and very unified, impermeable, and reluctant to involve non-elites in decision making. In terms of social characteristics and political ideology, the term limit elite, primarily wealthy white men with a history of libertarian activism, is atypical. The term limit elite examined in this research includes Edward H. Crane, Howard Rich, and the Koch Brothers of Wichita. The research concludes that the term limit elite will have to be remade after the 1995 Supreme Court decision banning state-enacted congressional term limits. The phenomenon likely will either disappear or be replaced by a structure more closely resembling a movement.
