Comments on: Abolish the Vice Presidency?

By: Pro-con: Should the vice presidency be abolished? | WE Blog

Pro-con: Should the vice presidency be abolished? | WE Blog — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:00:53 +0000

[...] dying and Sarah Palin being given the launch codes, they’re less likely to vote for McCain. - James Joyner, [...]

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:36:27 +0000

Of course, if one went to the popular vote, votes wouldn't be by state--and all those Republicans currently walled off in blue states like California and New York would be liberated.

Is there a particular reason why those currently disenfranchised voters are any more of a moral tragedy than the eventual 49% of popular voters who would end up on the losing side? Either way, you have voters whose wishes are not being implemented.

Maybe, instead, we should go back to the time before the 13th and 14th amendments?

I'm certain that if this happened, legal slavery would begin the very next day.

By: Steven Taylor

Steven Taylor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:23:01 +0000

Let's not follow Triumph's suggestion. I don't want to be ruled by the zealots of big blue states.

Of course, if one went to the popular vote, votes wouldn't be by state--and all those Republicans currently walled off in blue states like California and New York would be liberated. (Likewise the Dems in red states like Texas). Why people find this to be a bad idea is beyond me. As Triumph notes, a popular vote simply means everyone's vote is utterly equal. We like to call that "democracy."

By: legion

legion — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:22:15 +0000

To the extent that people are geniunely afraid of John McCain dying and Sarah Palin being given the launch codes, they’re less likely to vote for McCain.

That's something the Dems really need to hammer home - with McCain's medical history, there's a non-negligible chance he won't be able to carry out a 4-year term. There's probably a better-than even chance (personally, I'd say it nears certainty) that he won't live another 8 years. Rest assured, this fall people are voting for the very real chance Sarah Palin will be the President of the United States. Think about that. Think hard.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:58:17 +0000

Let's not follow Triumph's suggestion. I don't want to be ruled by the zealots of big blue states.

Yeah, the democratic principle of one-person one vote sucks.

Maybe, instead, we should go back to the time before the 13th and 14th amendments?

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:06:44 +0000

Let's not follow Triumph's suggestion. I don't want to be ruled by the zealots of big blue states.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:26:22 +0000

If we're talking about Constitutional reform, lets abolish the electoral college first, replaced by popular election of the Prez and then move on to less important things.

By: PD Shaw

PD Shaw — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:19:47 +0000

I also agree that the Constitution should be changed to have a special election. A VP that assumes the job does not get all of the benefits of running his or her own ideas past the public and rallying the public's support.

If Obama were to die days into the Presidency, is Biden supposed to try to do what he thinks Obama wanted, or should Biden do what Biden wants to do? Isn't he limited for the next 3 and a half years as someone deemed acceptable to the public, but not who they really supported for President?

By: PD Shaw

PD Shaw — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:13:55 +0000

William Henry Harrison died just days into his Presidency to be replaced by Tyler. Tyler was replaced by . . . nobody. Vacant for almost four full years.

Also, since the one unique requirement of the Vice President is that he/she be a resident of a different state from the President, the notion that the VP is intended for "balancing" purposes is quite close to what is intended.

By: Blue

Blue — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:16:49 +0000

I've never been impressed wit Ackerman, but this suggestion lowers my opinion of him even further.

It seems to me a profoundly bad idea that you can trigger a national election by killing the President.

By: Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » Should We Get Rid Of The Vice-Presidency ?

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:52:24 +0000

[...] James Joyner notes that Ackerman’s argument that we really don’t need a Vice-President doesn’t make a lot ... [It is] rather like saying that football teams don’t need a backup quarterback because, after [...]

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:51:56 +0000

If Congress can't actually pass a budget, the odds of them dealing with this pressing problem is pretty much nil. How about focusing on the achievable like converting carbon emissions to a new source of limitless energy?

By: sam

sam — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:27:26 +0000

Just for the record, eight US presidents have died in office, four of natural causes, four, sadly, by being assassinated:

1 William Henry Harrison April 4, 1841 Natural Causes
2 Zachary Taylor July 9, 1850 Natural Causes
3 Abraham Lincoln April 14, 1865 Assassinated
4 James A. Garfield September 19, 1881 Assassinated July 2, 1881
5 William McKinley September 14, 1901 Assassinated September 6, 1901
6 Warren Harding August 2, 1923 Natural Causes
7 Franklin D. Roosevelt April 12, 1945 Natural Causes
8 John F. Kennedy November 22, 1963 Assassinated

Had one deranged person's aim been better, and one other's knowledge of weaponry better, the number could've been 10. Out of 43 presidents.