The Twelfth Amendment

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they 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 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.

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 for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing 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. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Holy Constitutional Rhetoric Batman!!  As one of the longest amendments in the constitution prior to the seven years clause enacted on a variety of other amendments all this text essentially says is that the president and the vice president of the United States shall be voted upon as a unit as opposed to a seperate entity.  As we can also see from historical elections this amendment noted that the idea of Party Politics had emerged in the country with differing view points as the election of 1796 saw two elected officials from different political parties having to work together.  Although we should all work together it is kind of hard to press the viewpoint of your party under the "rule" of a different party in charge.

Political Parties by George Washington 

 

Here we have an actor portrying George Washington, arguably the founder of our country, with whom everyone can associate the birth of our nation explaining how political parties can eventually lead to a form of despotism.  Who would have thought that over 200 years ago the father of our country knew that if political parties were to actually develop the end of the nation and its personal liberties would go to the wayside!  I especially enjoy the fact that he laments to the fact that with political parties the people will look to someone to take charge and fix things, I can only look to the recent election of President Obama, who was turned to to make a change.  He has changed things but it is obviously not the change the country and its people were hoping for!  Another two years will tell the will of the people to re-elect or not!

A little Drunken History!!

 

Parts of this are grossly inaccurate but the idea here is sound and solid.  The fact that there was a disagreement between Burr and Hamilton over the difference of political views leads us to understand that party politics can run deeper than the surface issues discussed at times of election.  The political party system does not give one a platform to align with, or a majority to come together in and speak of politics and reforms, it is a group whose goals are their own and not those of the people.  There is no political party today which can stand against the Democrats or Republicans on any platform that will not come up against money and corruption.  Look at the green party, the party created by Ross Perot, all of which failed because of the established parties in place.  Lets get rid of the parties and make government politicians accountable to the people, not to their parties and see where the government turns!!