Decius wrote:

k wrote:

It is hard enough to run the hurdles posed by a bicameral system where, unlike many countries around the world, each House has an absolute veto on the other. It is, I believe, indefensible to give a single individual, who has no conceivable claim to greater legitimacy than the collective House and Senate, the power to set aside their expressed political judgment.

Oh, give me a break. THIS is EXACTLY the same as all the Republican bitching about filibusters from two years ago. The U.S. President has always had the power to veto laws for whatever reason. Thats hows things have always worked. And now all of a sudden its some great affront to Democracy when it means you don't get your way?! You're damn right it's counter-majoritarian! The fact that either party gets 51% of the vote, particularly in a single election, is not, in fact, carte blanche to ram through your partisan agenda. These checks and balances exist to prevent that very thing, and in recent years they have worked exactly as they should. You can override a veto. If the government isn't getting things done its because the parties are too busy following the radicals at their fringes than working together on reasonable solutions that have broad support.

Bingo. Navigating through the house, senate, presidency and courts is DELIBERATELY hard. The point was, to make it inordinately difficult for any majority to put a heel on the throat of any minority. It was built this way on purpose. It frequently doesn't work because it is not supposed to. Our government is designed such that, in theory, only worthwhile ideas can make their way through the whole thing.

On the topic of the original article, I do find his proposed veto of health care for millions of CHILDREN to be offensive beyond words, but he has the power to do so if he chooses (demonstrating yet again he's an oxygen thief). Can he do it? Yes. Should he do it? Well I suppose Herod didn't feel bad about his little executive order, so why should W?

This may be the first piece of legislation in some time that could garner enough votes to override a veto. If that happens, we'll then see what sort of signing statement the oxygen thief attaches to it to screw it up.

RE: Balkinization