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The VP has no duties except to be the President of the Senate. The president will not giving the VP any job that goes against their interests.
I want US senators to go back to being appointed by the states and thus can be recalled if they vote against the wishes of the state legislatures. They should not be elected.
The VP also casts the tie breaking vote in the Senate if there is a 25/25 tie.
Originally the Vice President was the candidate who got the second most Electoral College votes. John Adams (34 & 77) was George Washington's (69 & 132) VP. Thomas Jefferson (68) was John Adams' (71) VP. Aaron Burr (73) and George Clinton were Thomas Jefferson's (73 & 162) VP. When Jefferson tied with Burr in 1800 the House picked Jefferson to be President, which is why Burr ended up as VP. However, all that would change with Clinton. It was the Democratic-Republican Party that picked Clinton to be Jefferson's second VP in order to keep the New York-Virginia alliance strong. Clinton did not run for President in 1804, but he was immensely popular in New York as the first and third Governor of that State. He was also recommended by Burr to be his replacement. The primary reason Jefferson conceded to have Clinton as his second VP (who was already 65 years old at the time) was to ensure that Madison followed Jefferson as President in 1808.
Of course, at the time there was no popular vote for President yet, only the Electoral College vote. The first popular vote for President would not occur until 1824.
If we applied what was originally done to select a VP, in 2008 it would have been Obama as President and McCain as VP. In 2012 it would have been Obama as President and Romney as VP. It would certainly create an interesting dynamic, but not necessarily desirable.
Personally, I like the way it works today. Each presidential candidate chooses their running mate and they campaign as a pair. As it was previously pointed out, it gives some insight into the presidential candidate's decision making process before any vote is cast.
Adams hated Jefferson so much, he refused to give him an office. Jefferson responded by hanging out all the time in the Senate, and by blocking legislation Adams supported by any means available to him.
Adams hated Jefferson so much, he refused to give him an office. Jefferson responded by hanging out all the time in the Senate, and by blocking legislation Adams supported by any means available to him.
Like I said, it was an interesting dynamic but not necessarily desirable. Adams was a Federalist, and Jefferson was an anti-Federalist, so it would be like having Obama as President and Romney as VP. They are bound to clash. The same thing was true under Jefferson and Burr in 1800.
Have the VP's functions regarding presidential succession and taking charge of government when the president is ill or otherwise incapacitated moved to the Secretary of State.
I want US senators to go back to being appointed by the states and thus can be recalled if they vote against the wishes of the state legislatures. They should not be elected.
I've seen this thinking take off across the Right Wing Blogosphere lately. What's underlying it is that many legislatures are disproportionately Republican due to gerrymandering. It's also the same thinking that states apportion their presidential Electoral Votes by House districts, not by direct popular vote.
In both cases, the will of the majority is subsumed by a rigged game; representatives choose their voters instead of the other way around. Somehow voters are "smart" enough to vote for their state legislatures can't be trusted to vote for their own Senators
Since a majority of you ignored my other thread asking why the Vice President is elected, I've decided to make a thread (that will hopefully get a lot of posts) about how the Vice President should be elected.
<insert whatever that would fit this original post here>
Just a hunch...
Perhaps your first thread met overwhelming apathy because almost no one is upset over the current process.
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How should the Vice President be elected?
