Rather than postponing reform for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Democratic Party should follow the lead of Andrew Jackson, who confronted the government sponsored enterprise issue of his day by disbanding the Second Bank of the United States.

History teaches an essential lesson: GSEs, if they are created at all, should always have limited-life charters and never be granted perpetual ones.

GSEs, if they are created at all, should always have limited-life charters and never be granted perpetual ones.

The GSE reform legislation now being considered by Congress should be amended to revoke the GSEs' perpetual charters and replace them with limited-life charters.