Doug Wallace Challenges Constitutional Rights Of Party Politics

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DOUGLAS A. WALLACE

PO BOX 60958

RENO, NEVADA 89506 

July 15, 2011                                                                                                                                                                               

Chairman, Republican National Committee [RNC]

 310 First Street, SE 

Washington DC 20003.

Chairman, National Democratic Committee [NDC]

430 South Capitol Street SE

Washington, DC, 20003

 IN RE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES AFFECTING NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AS TO:

1.      The right of political parties to designate any candidate for election as president or Vice president.

2.      The right of political parties to capture the office of president for full terms.

3.      The right of political parties to nominate a woman as a candidate for president.

 Gentlemen:

As kids [if we are older than 70] we all likely played marbles and made up or changed the rules as we went along. Doing so was ok as long as we had an agreement among ourselves to do so. Of course rule making in a game of marbles was not framed in a straightjacket of a Charter, Articles of Incorporation or a Constitution. Being kids we didn’t need such binding parameters because, after all, nothing was really important about how one won a game. Yet the experience became part  of our gnosis that winning was everything!

It seems that when we grew up we wanted to be able to take those childish methods of changing rules by fiat with us as we grew into social institutions and particularly into government. Unfortunately we find ourselves bound by the rules of state and federal constitutions. So to win we quietly change the rules without authority or by official ratification of a majority of the masses. We seem to think that as long as we don’t allow the issue to arise we can keep the wool over the eyes of constituents and allow the unlawful nature of our acts to appear as legal and lawful. Tradition also is everything!

As a result we have some Constitutional issues which need to be addressed even at this late date because we do know that nothing is lawful unless it is based on constitutional authority.

The basic facts of the United States Constitution drafted in Philadelphia in the hot summer of 1787 [and later Amendment 12] as affects the election to office of United States President and vice-president simply are:

1.      No provisions for political parties arising within the framework of the Constitution were made as qualification for public offices. Indeed the founders were pretty much fed up with party politics.

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No special provision for election to the office of vice president was made except that in Article Two Section 1, the person receiving the next lower number of votes for the election to president without regard to party politics would automatically default to the office of vice president.[ Sample i.e., Democrat president; Republican vice-president].

2.      The constitution did not and still does not by Amendment XII state or affirm that the office of vice president must be filled with the same party affiliation as the president-elect. Indeed no party politics was authorized or required for the office; the only qualification being not ineligible for the office of president.

3.      The tradition of creating political parties to nominate a candidate for president who chooses a vice presidential running mate of the same political ilk has arisen without force of law or of constitutional authority.  Under the Constitution it is the Electoral College* who originally chose the vice president who becomes such by default by receiving the next least vote for the office of president. Amendment XII alters that somewhat in that the Electors may chose the vice president from any slate other than being next least voted upon for president. Same party affiliation is not required notwithstanding any state law that might appear to rule otherwise. Nor does allowing states to appoint electors in any manner offset that.

Plainly stated, if we continue to use party politics in the selection of the person of the president of the United States we must discontinue the unlawful practice of pre-selecting the vice presidential candidate to serve the elected president in national political conventions in contravention of the Constitution.

      5.       Since the constitution does not provide for political parties it also does not provide for political parties capturing the office of president for the full term should the president become deceased or incapacitated during that term as the office could then be filled with a vice president of a different political party and philosophy. Amendments XII, XX, XXII or XXV do not alter this issue.

          6       Since Article II of the Constitution qualifies the “person” of the president as a male by            use of  some eighteen male pronouns, it is foolish to promote a woman to the office   without an  Amendment such as the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment or a declaration by           the Supreme Court  overcoming the inherently obvious intention of the founders that the            office of president be filled  only by a male “person”.

Now I am not saying that a violation of the provisions of the U.S. Constitution cannot be made as witness the corruption to the office of president/vice-president by political parties under pretense of constitutional  legitimacy that has gone on far too long in this country. Since we claim to be a nation founded and operated on law, it is time to face the truth that we are not and have not been compliant with the Constitution. Therefore we should:

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          1.  Admit the errors and correct them to comply with the Constitution.

          2. During the forthcoming election period of 2011-2012 refrain from a selection or           allowing the selection of a “running” mate vice-presidential candidate to whomever either            party selects as its presidential candidate.   

          3. In the meantime work toward a formal amendment to the Constitution to codify the traditional but presently unconstitutional procedures of pre selection of a vice-president to become legal should that be the will of the people.

          4. If that cannot be accomplished within the needed time frames, then allow the Constitution to function as intended with a president and vice president of different parties.

         5. Assist me to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to timely rule by fiat on the constitutional right of a female to run for office of president pursuant to my letter addressed to William Suter, Clerk of the Court dated June 27, 2011 copy attached hereto.

As a senior American all I can do is to raise these issues and request that both parties put aside their partisan politics and bring the nation into full constitutional compliance. I believe that the common good requires that government be more philosophically centered.  Certainly debate is needed!

Sincerely yours.

/S/

Douglas A. Wallace, JD

Lewis and Clark Law School

Class of 1970

*The Electoral College is blight on democracy and often disenfranchises whole masses of the majority of voters. Only the popular vote for president should exist in a true democracy. In any event, if the electors voted only for the president by a winner takes all in majority states, the vice president by the spirit of Section one of Article two even under Amendment XII would have to be the next candidate for president receiving a lesser vote than the person elected, not only in the winner take all states but also in the non-winner take all states; not some dummy pre-handpicked for vice president by the winner in contravention of Amendment XII of the Constitution.

Attachment: Letter to Wm. Suter, June 27, 2011.