Yes. The "why" is that in 1787 it was unthinkable that a felon would be elected President by the Electoral College. The electors wouldn't bother voting for a felon.
this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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Yes. The constitution is actually shockingly specific about what the qualifications are. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
No other qualifications can be considered, barring a Constitutional Amendment.
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Yep, cause the constitution doesn’t forbid felons from running for president.
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The current record for number of US presidental votes received while in prison is about 1,000,000. Eugene V. Debs is the record holder, and that election was in 1920. Trump just may beat him this year. There is no law that says you can't be president while in prison.
Yes, and there's precedent that he can still run even if he's imprisoned.
Debs ran for president in the 1920 election while imprisoned in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.
https://learnconlaw.com/78-the-disqualification-clause
Maybe. It's complicated
Edit: yeah I'm conflating two different things. Interesting listen though
That wasn't what he was just convicted of tho. Is he even on trial for anything related to Jan 6?
The Constitution spells out who is eligible to run for President, and does not say criminals are ineligible. It's as simple as that.
I do find it odd that you guys put so much emphasis on a document written in a time nothing like today.
Like surely it should evolve, but I can see how that would go right now so it’s probably for the best.
We do too trust me
Yeah it's because Americans are fucking terrible at governing.
The vast, vast majority of Americans do not care about their elected officials. Most do not even know who they are, and just vote based on party affiliation or don't vote at all. Our government structure also fundamentally doesn't work, and we would be far better served adopting a parliamentary system like the rest of the developed world, but nobody cares enough to do anything. Our courts are corrupt thanks to Donald Trump, gerrymandering means our elections are hardly fair, the list goes on.
America has an apathetic government that accomplishes very little and is easily captured by hostile forces because it is exactly the level of government Americans are willing to put in the effort for.
We do amend the Constitution from time to time, but it takes a 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress, plus ratification by 3/4 of states. so it's quite a high bar.
Just because an idea is old, doesn't mean its a bad idea. And we do have mechanisms for modifying the constitution. We just don't do it often because it requires a lot of agreement.
I think we have more enlightened and more informed views now than 270 years ago is alls I’m saying.
Just the right to bare arms is such an example. Weapons are completely different these days.
That's the problem. No people ever think they're the unenlightened ones. Society changes but not always for the better.
The Constitution is a safety rail to protect us from ourselves.
I exercise the right to bare arms as often as possible, and my farmer's tan is proof of that.
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