You're right about "trust but verify", but that would happen in the agreement, and isn't related to meeting without preconditions. The SORT (or Moscow Treaty), for example, that Bush signed didn't have any avenues for verifying any armament reduction, which is unfortunate if it's not going to be an empty agreement. And it should be remembered that Reagan's preconditions for the Reykjavik summit (that they'd also address Afghanistan, Soviet Jews, political dissension, and human rights in the USSR) were rejected by Gorbachev.

Reagan, too. And Kissinger, George Shultz, Bush, and plenty of other prominent Republicans. Nuclear disarmament has been an issue with proponents on both sides of the aisle, even now with the threat of Iran, North Korea, and terrorist groups getting access.

In 2005 (the last year I could find data for) CA received $0.78 of federal spending for each dollar of federal taxes paid. Only 7 states had a lower ratio, and 33 states received more money than they gave. CA contributes more money to the union than it receives. I think it's fair to say that the tax-earners more than outweigh the tax-eaters in California. Link: http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/266.htm...

Also, as far as the ratio of job losses to state population, CA didn't fair as bad as other states. Raw numbers of job losses don't mean too much when the population disparity between states is so large.

"After Roosevelt died and Republicans gained a majority in Congress, the Twenty-second Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms of office, was adopted in 1951." (Encyclopedia Britannica). It was ratified on March 21, 1947, when Republicans had control of the Senate and House. Democrats didn't vote in term limits because they were concerned with FDR's lust for power. He was dead. And Truman was exempted from the term limit imposed anyway. The Republicans gave us the 22nd Amendment.