The original constitution of the United States provided many checks and balances, all to make sure that it would not be possible for any part of the Federal government to tyrannize and overpower the people or the States. The three branches of government are all meant to make it difficult to pass laws, to impose taxes, to create regulations and to declare war. Not the least of the checks and balances in the constitution as originally enacted was the fact that the President of the United States and the Vice President were to be selected from the same pool of would-be presidents. When someone declared that he was running for president, he might just as easily end up as vice president in the government of a rival who got more votes than he did. The second runner up in the popularity contest would be granted the title of Vice President.
Wouldn’t having a President and a Vice President who have widely differing beliefs, plans and constituencies cause too much gridlock in the Senate? The Founding Fathers in their infinite wisdom realized that when it comes to government, there is no such thing as too much gridlock!
Julia Hanna and I recently discussed this topic on our show.
In order that fewer voters become entirely disenfranchised every time a new president is elected, it is important that the person chosen by the losing constituency still get a public office and plenty of power to stop the winner in the presidential election from having unbridled power.
After all, the purpose of our revolution was to take power away from the government and to hand it back to the states and the people. Why not go back to what the founders intended?
Yes, there was a minor glitch during the election of 1800. But this could easily be solved by giving each elector in the Electoral College only one vote for president. Then after that one vote is cast, the person with the second largest number of votes for President should be made Vice President with no further ado.
Don’t like the gentleman who got the most electoral votes? No problem, the person who got the second largest number of votes will make life very difficult for him for the next four years. Don’t like either of them? No problem. They will be so gridlocked they will not cause any trouble for any of us.
That government is best which governs least.
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