Hey People!! I was pretty sure I was all fired up to do new articles again in this blog...and I am!! Really!! Except for today. No, today, I'm simply going to re-do this one, with a significant bolster in the number of paragraphs, from it's original version. Sorry, it's the best I can muster. This time.
OK, as promised, we're going to cover the rest of the Constitution's Amendments, the ones immediately following the bill of rights.
Amendment 11 states that any U.S. Citizen can sue the state. (1795) Keep in mind that nowhere does it say you'll win, or even have a chance of winning.
Amendment 12 Is an Amendment that specifies the Electoral College, used and key in electing the President and Vice President of the United States every 4 years. This was put into effect in 1804, and the votes of the electoral representatives do NOT have to represent the popular choice. \Instead, the electors (the people assigned to vote for each state, dependent on the number of representatives each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives) are generally pre-pledged to vote for a candidate. There are a couple of states that vote according to the popular vote, but the rest work on the pre-pledged vote system. OK? Then why do we vote at all? Wasn't it silly then to ask for a recount of the state vote in Florida back in 2000?.
This method of voting for the 2 highest offices has been, many times, accused of being un-democratic, and I agree whole-heartedly. The representative electors should, as the term is defined, represent the way the state votes, not by the person the electors think should be in office. This has caused a ruckus a couple of times in our history, especially the afore-mentioned 2000 Bush election.
If this system of voting for the President and Vice President were ever in place for a good reason, it isn't any longer. This method is outdated, unfair and NOT the way of the people of the United States. This system also leaves too much room for corruption, and if it seemed that the electors didn't favor the candidate, even though it was obvious that the candidate was the people's choice, it could, someday produce some nasty results.
Amendment 13 is the Amendment that covered the freeing of all slaves, and abolishes all "servitude." (1865).
Amendment 14 Defined U.S. Citizenship and what was required to qualify for it, and defined also and put into place "Due Process", "Privileges and Immunities" and "Equal Protection". (1868).
As for those of you unfamiliar with Due Process, Due Process means that you are, entitled, when accused of a crime, to go through the system, fairly; in other words, you are entitled to be heard and have a fair trial before your life or liberty are taken away from you. These days Due Process could be detailed as you not having to say a word, you can retain an attorney (and if you can't afford one, we'll assign you one), then you have the right to your arraignment, then your day in court, then you have the right to appeal if you feel you didn't get the right judgement. The only thing I have trouble with, is prior to your your being jailed, and most definitely prior to your being jailed upon sentencing (after being found guilty) you are supposed to be heard first...so why are we always jailed while we wait to be heard? Isn't that depriving you of your life or liberty? I think so. Like I said, guilty until proven innocent. Oh sure, you can pay your unreasonably high bail and be free til your trial. For most this usually involves having to give up your first born male child, your left leg and anything you have of value, along with anything your family has of value, your friends have of value, etc. Essentially, it would seem that high bonds are issued to the people the courts don't want to go anywhere. This is hardly democratic OR constitutional.
As for those of you unfamiliar with Due Process, Due Process means that you are, entitled, when accused of a crime, to go through the system, fairly; in other words, you are entitled to be heard and have a fair trial before your life or liberty are taken away from you. These days Due Process could be detailed as you not having to say a word, you can retain an attorney (and if you can't afford one, we'll assign you one), then you have the right to your arraignment, then your day in court, then you have the right to appeal if you feel you didn't get the right judgement. The only thing I have trouble with, is prior to your your being jailed, and most definitely prior to your being jailed upon sentencing (after being found guilty) you are supposed to be heard first...so why are we always jailed while we wait to be heard? Isn't that depriving you of your life or liberty? I think so. Like I said, guilty until proven innocent. Oh sure, you can pay your unreasonably high bail and be free til your trial. For most this usually involves having to give up your first born male child, your left leg and anything you have of value, along with anything your family has of value, your friends have of value, etc. Essentially, it would seem that high bonds are issued to the people the courts don't want to go anywhere. This is hardly democratic OR constitutional.
Privileges and Immunities basically states that you, as a citizen of the United States, in each state that you as a citizen reside in, are entitled to the same privileges and immunities no matter where you are in the U.S., and without prejudice.
Equal Protection just means that the people of each state shall receive equal protection where the law is concerned. This means that one person doesn't get treated any better or worse than the next. However, I have real issues with this rule as well, which means, of course, that we'll be back to this as well.
Amendment 15 states that no one is to discriminate against any voter because of race, color, creed. (1869).
Amendment 16 says that congress is allowed to tax incomes (1913). Where I haven't really had many issues with the prior Amendments in this post, this one deserves an entire post (or posts) all on its own. We'll be back, naturally.
Amendment 17 Specifies that congressmen are elected by the people directly, and not by representative officials for that particular state, as it had been prior to that. (1913).
Amendment 18 Prohibition of Liquor (1919). This one could be construed as controversial (and it was later extremely so), when it's put in the light of other abused substances that we had then and have today. Later, this Amendment was repealed, because it was feared that liquor being prohibited would cause more issues than the Amendment solved. Of course, we shall return to this subject at a later date.
Amendment 19 gave women the right to vote (1920). Right!
Amendment 20 expresses the duties of the outgoing, as well as the incoming Presidents, and the time that their offices ended and began. It also covers congressionals as well, and when their terms began and ended officially (1933).
Amendment 21 repealed the 18th Amendment (1933).
Amendment 22 defines how many times a person can be the President of the United States and covers any special circumstances, such as if a vice president took the place of the current President for any reason (1951)
Amendment 23 simply allowed the District of Columbia (barely the size of some major cities and not a "state of the union" per se, to carry the minimum amount of electoral representatives (1961).
Amendment 24 only prohibits revoking a voter's right to vote because he didn't pay the poll tax (1962). There were only 5 states that still had a poll tax at this time, and this amendment essentially brought the tax to its end.
Amendment 25 basically re-enforces Article 6 of the Constitution, and explains in more detail the process and times when replacement of the President and/or the vice president is necessary (1965).
Amendment 26 Made it legal for 18 yr. olds to vote (1971).
By the way...I did NOT know some rather disturbing facts concerning the office of the President of the United States, unbelievably, 'till I was almost 50. Because of this, I feel it's my duty to inform you, America, to regrettably point out where a great deal of your tax dollars are really going.
For one, while he's in, our President pulls down a cool $400,000 a year. I always believed it was $200,000, so I was quite surprised (in it's defense, the salary was $200,000 until 2001. Evidently that was the last I'd heard of the salary going up, until this year). But that's not all. We also give him an additional $169,000 more for expenses he might incur during his term(s), such as travel, a tax-free expense account and an "entertainment" account. I know, myself, that the base $400,000 would have more than covered these extra expenses for me, to be sure. I was wowing at $200,000 a year, I sure didn't think it was anywhere close to $569,000.
I also never knew that, once the President steps down, that we pay him a pension until the day he dies totaling $200,000 a year, charged again to the taxpayers. We take care of him until he kicks the bucket. FOR REAL AMERICA? This has been going on since I was born, did you know that? I sure didn't. Here's another one, he also gets security personnel to watch out for him (it was for only 10 years after you stepped down...another Grand Obama Executive Order) for THE REMAINDER OF HIS LIFETIME!! Unbelievable. Did I agree to any of this? I'm pretty sure I did NOT.
So lemme get this straight. It's not enough that we paid this guy $2,276,000 in total pay for four years, or $4,552,000 for eight years. Then, we gotta pay EACH president that's still alive, probably averaging around 4-5 a year, $200,000, or, a million or better dollars a year, out of our pockets. Oh, I'm sorry, lest we forget, also, the pay, health insurance and other benefits provided for the post-Presidential security staff for each of these ex-Presidents until the day they die. I'd love to see what kind of pay they're getting for this!!
And the cherry on top? If they were Senators prior to the Presidency (and we all know that most of them were indeed), they not only get the Presidential Pension...they get an EX-SENATOR'S PENSION TOO!! Wow. Most of us Sheeple don't receive pensions until after we've worked for 30 or 40 years...depending, also, on whether the guys at the top are crooks or not; and this guy gets TWO, after only 4 or 8 years!!?? And even if all is legit, we grunts usually have to put in at LEAST 20, if not 25-40 years to get ours. It's possible that it MIGHT be enough to live on, depending on what we did for a living. Granted, my job probably wasn't nearly as hard or stressful as the President's job...but then I'm not getting paid $400,000 a year plus expenses, either; nor is it likely that I will ever see that kind of pay. Think about this, while you let all of that sink in: We've been paying Jimmy Carter....for NOT being the President, for 33 years. Yes, that's right. 33...long...YEARS.
C'mon kids!! I can see giving these guys some unemployment for a year, and, if they were awful Presidents, maybe we'll pay for a year or two's worth of security for them (if you were an a terrible president, I can imagine that it'll take one or two years afterwards for everyone to quit being pissed off and blaming you for their lives, granted). It's going to be hard for some of these guys to get another job, I'm sure! I can see that, especially after he cost America jobs during his term and more than likely lost people money or their businesses. It's really too bad when you have to put something like that on your resume, or when you have your new job call the White House, and they receive a less than stellar reference of your job performance. Who wants to hire a guy that screws things up that badly, on a national scale, after all? But that's really no excuse to willingly cover for him and every need he has until the day he dies, especially for this sum of money. Let him get back out there in the trenches, let him fall back on what he used to do before he was famous, right here with the rest of us; and our 10% or better unemployment rate; and have him get another job!!
Let's wrap this up, OK? As you can see, for the most part, a good portion of our Amendments are insignificant, and don't carry much weight or cause much controversy, the more blatant exceptions being Amendments12, 13, 14, 16, 18. 26 and 27. Yet, these Amendments are all, in their way, important or influential in some way to our life as it is today...and a good portion, aren't so much. We will, of course, be revisiting these Amendments as we come to reference them later, no question. Some are real conversation starters, and can lead to good heated debates. I myself LOVE a good heated debate. To all a good day, and see you tomorrow!!
