How could you change the constitution so the vice president has some real power and is doing more then just waiting for the president dies?
Having two powerful positions in charge of running the country is far from a good thing IMHO. Not only would the lines of authority become muddled, but it could well create competition between the two - in other words a struggle for ultimate power. Needles to say, this could be very unproductive if not downright dangerous for good government. Don't forget the position of VP, originally, was supposed to go to the runner up in the election for President. That didn't work out too well two centuries ago. In a modern nuclear armed world it could mean total disaster.
I'm not saying in charge, just more powerful. Right now the position is useless. An idea I have is to have the VP recommend 3 or 4 people for each cabinet position. The president could pick one or chose one of his own.
Well this only further muddles the lines of authority. Combine that with confusion as to who is ultimately responsible for the Administration's actions & policy. It's bad enough now, in regards to these things, so I don't think such a reform to the VP's Office will make things any better. IMHO it'll make things worse.
And there's still what I said before. You'll end up having the President & the VP competing officially for power, thus possibly spliting the Adminstration into two power blocks. Now it happens to a limited degree now, but it's all behind closed doors & kept under control, but this type of reform makes it official. Ultimately it could mean a power grab in the Executive - in other words a civil war within the government itself.
Not really the president can choose one of his own. He makes recommendations but doesn't do the actual picking. Right now the problem is when the president dies the VP is almost clueless on what is really going on.
The president choose one of his own eh? You know how many so-called "friends" have become enemies once political power comes into the equation? Lots.
In the end it's not the Office which maketh the man, but rather the man who maketh the Office. In other words, no-one thinks that Cheney, for example, is powerless in the current Administration as VP, whilst Dan Quayle, on the other hand, was completely powerless: yet both served in the exact same Office...
Who do you think chooses cabinet members NOW? It is the POUS and it has to be confirmed by Congress. Not much change here except that the VP has to keep in touch of things to make recomendations.
Well recommendations don't mean much if the President can ignore them. So I don't see the point of any change.
Now if you made the VP the head of an important department - say foreign affairs - that'd be different. In other words he becomes Sec of State.
How about this:
Vice-President is not a separate position, but is an additional title given to the Secretary of State.
The title and responsibilities of "President of the Senate" is instead given to the Secretary of Treasury.
Hence, only the President is elected, and we don't have all that trouble figuring out how to elect vice-presidents.
How could you change the constitution so the vice president has some real power and is doing more then just waiting for the president dies?
If it is an official duty his recommendations would probably be taken seriously. He may have only marginal influence on who the secetary of state is but he certainly will have a considerable amount on who the secatary of labor is. After all the POUS doesn't have all the time in the world to fill lower postions as he has other things to do.
Sounds good, although why not simply have the President of the Senate as a separate appointment instead of it going to Treasury?
That could work also, but I figured if part of it (mainly the succession) went to one cabinet post, why not have the other part go to another one.
Having to ride herd on the Senate would be a distraction for the Secretary of State, but I think it makes some sense for the Secretary of Treasury.
I don't think it's that important. At first there was only four positions: state, treasury, war, and the attorney general. The President of the Senate doesn't deserve to be there imo.