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The
latest flap over John McCain’s selection of a running mate
raises an issue that should be of concern to all citizens but
is almost never brought up in polite company. The issue is
this: the framers never in their wildest dreams ever
considered that a Vice President should unilaterally be
selected by a Presidential candidate and automatically come into office on
his or her coattails. In fact, the Constitution says that on
election day, the President and Vice President should be voted
for on separate ballots.
“The Electors shall…
…name in their ballots the person voted for as President,
and in distinct ballots the person voted for as
Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for
as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which
lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to
the seat of the government of the United States, directed to
the President of the Senate…” …Amendment 12
In other words, the President
and Vice-President were
conceived to handle two separate administrative functions. The Vice President was
never supposed to be an assistant president, nor were they
supposed to come into office as a duo, partnership, or team.
The job of the VP includes the
responsibility of taking over the President’s duties when the
President is unable to act. And if the Vice President can’t
act, then it’s the Speaker of the House who assumes that
responsibility.
This design and intent is, in
itself, further evidence that the Framers considered Congress
and not the President to be the main governing body. The President
is supposed to be the executive administrator of the laws that
Congress puts in place. The Vice President was specifically
given the job of President of the Senate. That was in the days
when the Senate was actually a functioning body where
individual representatives came together to debate issues and
arrive at legislation for the good of the people. In that
context, the Vice President held a key position because the
Senate was where the action was and as President of the Senate
he was in the middle of that action. Of course, that’s when Senators
actually talked to one another and ironed things out amongst
themselves, each taking personal responsibility for their own
research, opinions and actions.
Nowadays, there is almost no
debate and the Senate floor is mostly empty even when the
Senate is in session because most of the Senators are out
raising money for their next election, leaving it to their
staff or the staff
at party headquarters to tell them what to think and how
to vote when they eventually show up at work. Apparently most Senators are too busy for something so mundane as
reading and understanding the legislation they sign or the implications of what lobbyists have decided to put
into that proposed legislation before it comes up for vote.
Having a President choose a
running mate is about as undemocratic as you can get, given
that there is a relatively high probability that any sitting Vice
President will eventually become President. In essence,
instead of the People choosing the next President, you have
one person exerting overwhelming power and influence over the
process, which in effect is playing Russian roulette
with democracy, because Presidential candidates have a
penchant for choosing running mates who otherwise would never
be considered qualified if they had to run for such a high
office on their own merit. Originally,
it was the runner up in the race for President who
automatically became Vice President, which tells you how far
away we are now from what the framers originally had in mind.
Of course the framers didn’t
anticipate how casually citizens and elected officials would
honor their responsibilities and how much power
representatives would abdicate in favor of lobbyists,
corporations, and political parties. Perhaps the current
arrangement wouldn't be so dangerous if office holders weren't
so casual about their awesome responsibilities.
It should be clear by now to any
observer, that we have not, through experience, perfected the
system by which we govern ourselves according to
what is best for society as a whole and our posterity. Money should play no role
in influencing elected officials on what to think or how to
legislate. But you can't get elected without such large sums
of money and that means very few of the people who are able to get
elected are willing to change things for the
better, even though plenty of lip service is paid in the
worship of that elusive mirage. When you think
about it, it’s kind of interesting and strange how that works.
A smaller government wouldn't
be better and government will never be
smaller than it is. Why? Because WE are the government. Every
decision affecting our lives will get made no matter how many
people are on the government payroll. What we should be asking
ourselves, is who is going to make the critical decisions
facing our nation and how much
character and wisdom will the people who make those decisions
have... and whose interest will they be serving when they make
them.
This brings us full circle back
to the Republican convention where we can begin to see what
happens when Constitutional principles are constantly
being eroded. In fact, I can now report that the
Constitution that was written to protect citizens from
autocratic government, apparently no longer functions as
intended.
The
current administration, which received from a Democratically
controlled congress, unfettered authority to tap the phones and search the
email of US citizens, has now used those powers to intimidate
citizens out of exercising their first amendment
rights.
Teams of police were sent to
raid homes, confiscate computers, and manhandle citizens when it was suspected that
the folks staying there were thinking about legally and
non-violently protesting at the convention. What would they be
protesting about: the erosion of our Constitutional
rights and the rule of law. In truth, freedom will
whither and die wherever there is no privacy or protection
from government corruption and excess.
At the convention itself,
reporters, such as Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!, were
arrested with press pass in hand simply for showing up... not
to protest, but to report on what was happening.
This loss of
freedom, and
perhaps the loss of our Constitution itself, might actually be
attributable to the ability of presidential candidates being
able to unilaterally choose their vice-presidential running
mates rather than have vice-presidential candidates compete
for that office on same terms required of any other candidate for
elective office.
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