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Was the 12th amendment a mistake? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca
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Before the 12th amendment, the presidential candidate who got the second most electoral votes became the vice president. This meant they were usually different parties.

It occurred to me that one thing this achieved was always ensuring that there was someone in the room who would be willing to disagree with the president. He couldn't surround himself with yes-men.

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[–] 8 points 2 months ago* (4 children)

Vice presidents don’t usually sit around the room. They’re not heavily involved in day to day decisions

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    But they can if they want to be. It's not like you can keep them out of the room without explicit orders from the president. And even then, if they force their way in, what is the secret service going to do? Tackle the VP?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Today, that is correct, because the president and VP are generally aligned on issues so there's no reason to push them out.

    On paper the VP's only real responsibilities are to cast occasional tie-breaking votes and not die.

    The tie breaking vote is practically useless if the next step is a veto and you clearly don't have the votes to overturn it.

    In a modern cluster fuck of a world without explicit laws assigning powers and access to the VP, a VP from an opposing party would DEFINITELY be banned from spaces near POTUS, likely under the guise of securing the line of succession.

    With a hypothetical Trump/Harris ticket you can be absolutely certain he would try everything in his power to get her locked in a lightless bunker "for safety"

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