We are going to over the Constitution and its Amendments line by line. When Republicans wave their paper props and parrot their vile machinations, we will be prepared to expose the lies. The text comes from The US Constitution. It will be displayed in black, while my comments will be indented in blue. Earlier articles include:
Preamble – Article I, Section 5
Article I, Sections 6-10
Article II
Section 1
1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows
2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
Note that this gives small states (population) considerably more electoral clout than large states. Also note that, originally, the President was elected by the states, not the people. We’ll talk about the change in the Amendments.
3: The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List 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. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
Note that in a case where there is no electoral majority, small states have a decided advantage, because they get one vote each, regardless of population.
4: The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
The fourteen year residency requirement applied only to people naturalized before the Constitution was adopted.
6: In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the VicePresident, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
This list of officers has been set.
7: The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
I often wonder how GW Bush could take that oath, as he did more to undermine it than any other.
I shall try to put up a new article in this series almost every day. It will take some time to cover it all, but when we’re done, we shall be immune to the lies with which Republicans seek to undermine our freedoms.
8 Responses to “Constitution: Article II, Section 1”
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Well, America certainly has a constitution. Almost unmatchable anywhere else.
We used to have one in Canada through the British North America Act, where it was stipulated that the country, once given to us gratis by the Brits, shhould be a place of Peace, Order and Good Government.
….After the G 20 riots in Toronto of late, these things were trampled on by anarchists in Toronto.
Our “Keystone Kops” largelly stood by while their cars and local Starbucks coffee shops were torched…But they did protect, and keep safe the dignitaries of the G 20 inside their compound.. For a while there, it looked like me like Mayhem, Disorder and Bad Government instread of Peace, Order and Good Government.
Maybe bad government, because the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau repatriated the Constitution to a Made in Canada monstrocity, a one- pager called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which the lawyers have seized upon to sort of demonstrate that they themselves should rule. “You got a problem with that?
Go to the Constitution Committee.” Hm. Canada run by committee.
It seems to me that the recent Queen’s visit to Canada sort of made the silent point that “I am the Queen, your Head of State and I represent your real constitution.
I say, God Save the Queen. We are at this time ruled by a minority of Oil barons from Alberta–’cause it’s about the only place the U. S. can get its oil from without invading…Or is the invastion complete? 🙂
Ivan, in an earlier article, I pointed out that the Bible permits us to own slaves only from neighboring countries, so I would like to own a Canadian. As it is not yet legal for me to do so, the invasion must still not be complete. 😉
However, it does seem that Harper’s harlots seem intent on copying all the worst qualities of the Bush/GOP regime.
Thanks, TC. I’m reading and bookmarking as we go. Good job.
Thanks, Leslie. You’re most welcome.
Chimpy said he’d “fatally excrement” the Office of the President. you just weren’t paying attention.
Paying attention to morons can be difficult.
TomCat,
I had to laugh when Stephen Colbert noted that China now has sort of Hertz-rent-a-white- guy lollygaggying around to offer a Chinese company “prestige.” All he has to do is hang around; no need to even speak Cantonese or Mandarin–I mean, he’s white, is he not and doesn’t have to dabblie in such things.
Stephen Colbert then does a segue:
This guy could really be a crappier version of ourselves at being useless, that is to say, a Canadian. 🙂
LOL, Ivan!!