Yes, I did it in 11 terms, only god knows how many other attempts it took trying though 
The only downside is I have a govt that would made Dubya a mighty proud man. 93% Religious and rising! Though its something of a mish mash between a far right wing theocracy, and a left wing inspired welfare state.
Has anyone else had any sucess with the USA and not turned it into place where liberals are burnt at the stake?
Iâm in my 36th term (wonder what happened to the constitution and death) but I remember gaining a surplus very quickly, though I canât remember how I did it. Oh and the percentage of Religious people is 0.19, I believe that is as low as it goes, and the liberals fanatically support me (conservatives are very loyal).
The constitution and death put a bit of a downer on the gameplay, so I ignored them. You can say that you represent the party, not an individual leader 
Well it certainly makes the game funner, would be rather pointless with only two terms.
I think the two term limit system currently in the US is actually problematic if anything. Because presidents have 8 years max, they are only going to be concerned about short-term goals. They just have to focus on getting elected the first time and then getting elected the next 4 years. After that they can just slack off and avoid doing anything too stupid and they wonât get impeached. However, if a politician is able to run for more terms (like in other governments), then they would have more reason to think longer-term and implement policies that are better for the long-term sustainability of the country. Some may argue that having a president in office for say five 4-year terms (20 years) sounds like a dictatorship but so as long as the people keep voting him in and he can still be impeached if he screws up, why not?
If Bush was allowed a third term, obviously he wouldnât be voted in again but if a president is able to gather the support of the people for a long stretch of time, I donât see why they canât run more than two terms.
Oh God, even the thought of that man being allowed to run again is painful.
Bush wonât unless the Democrats have an equally incompetent leader running for them. Actually, that isnât exactly unlikely. There is very little difference between Republicans and Democrats these days as it used to be. Bush voted for the war, but so did Hillary and Kerry. About half of the Democrats did. Every senator aside from one voted for the PATRIOT Act. This manufacturing of consent on the issue of war in the middle-east and the stripping of civil liberties obviously is likely to alienate a lot of Americans. Hence why people need to start voting for people they truly support rather than the âlesser of two evils.â Republicans and Democrats are not very different these days. I know some people blame the Electoral College system but the real problem is that Americans feel compelled to vote for the lesser of two evils. That is why people arenât getting any real change. If you vote for the lesser of the two evils, at the end of the day, you still get evil. (source on that quote: Ralph Nader).
I completely agree, I canât stand any Reps, and the only Dem I can stand is Feingold who youâve mentioned (the one that voted against the unPATRIOTic Act.)
Republicans are not even real Republicans these days. A Republican is supposed to be in support of the Republican system. However you see Republicans constantly spouting off about Democracy these days and not about protecting the Republic. Republicans were PRECISELY against Democracy. Thomas Jefferson, a staunch republican, was once quoted saying that Democracy is the tyranny of the majority (I believe cliff has this quote in this game).
So a real Republican is supposed to be a supporter of Constitutional Republicanism, not a democracy. There is a difference. A Constitutional Republic is supposed to be a very decentralized system of citizen representatives that are supposed to serve the interests of their constituency, protecting their constitutional rights and not be lapdogs for their âleader.â We have so many political party cronies today and you can barely tell the Republicans and Democrats apart anymore. The only way that real change will happen is if people collectively stop with this party loyalty to the âlesser of two evilsâ and start voting their conscience. Back in the day, ballot papers were blank apparently and you had to write in the name of the running candidate you want to vote for. Voting for a fellow citizen candidate to represent you was given much more importance back then. Even though political parties were always around, they didnât have so much importance back then as now. Now many reps are just lapdogs to their party line (there are some reps that do stand out though I admit).
I did it near the beginning of my second term. I didnt change any settings so maybe you are on a harder difficulty?
The way I did it was lower military spending and raising tobacco and petrol tax. By the time I introduced the other taxes, I was already near reaching the end of the deficit.