WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Constitution Corner: Article 2- The Presidential Rap, Robin Williams, and Term Limits?

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

Rapping, Robin Williams, and term limits... what in the world could those have to do with each other? Join Mattingly Watson as she finds the answer exploring Article 2 in a fun and interactive episode of the Constitution Corner!

This is Constitution Corner on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, where we explore the vivacious history of our Constitution, simplifying a seemingly complex document so we can all understand one of our nation's most impactful pieces of history. I am your host, Maddingley Watson, and today we will be discussing Article 2 in the United States. Constitution. Last week, we had some green eggs and ham hung out with schoolhouse rock and learned all about the crazy thing known as filibustering. This week, trust me, Article 2 is going to take us on just as crazy of a journey. But first, a little background. So Article 1 talks about the legislative branch, which as we learned in the last episode, Congress is a big part of. Article 2

moves on to our second branch of government, the executive branch, specifically the president of the United States. So one of the very first things Article 2 does is set the length of term for both the president and vice president. Four years. And that length still holds true to this day, but here's something crazy. Article 2 does not set any term limits whatsoever. Terms. Terms. Terms limits for the president did not come into law until 1951. No president since then has served more than two terms, but before that, we did have one president who served four terms. So to fully understand this story, we've got to go all the way back to the first president of the United States. Washington. When the Constitution was made, almost everyone assumed George Washington would be the first president.

He was already presiding over the Constitutional Convention, which was the convention that created all of these articles that were discussing. And when he was presiding over this convention, he maintained a very objective position. except George Washington saw becoming president as a sacrifice for the people. It wasn't something he campaigned for or wanted for selfish reasons like we see in modern politics so many people get accused of. In fact, his reservations about holding the office were a part of the reasoning behind him being elected unanimously and for two consecutive terms. At the end of his second term, he chose. to step down, even though many people wanted him to stay in the office indefinitely. His regal and selfless leadership set a precedent, or kind of like a tradition, that every

single president after him would serve no more than two terms. So that is until the early 20th century, when a president came along and decided to go against this Washingtonian president. Franklin, Delano, Roosevelt. FDR served as president from 1933 to 1945 for a total of four terms. In reaction, two years later, an amendment was passed by Congress to limit presidents to two terms. It took four years, but the amendment was eventually ratified by third. 36 of the 48 state legislatures.

Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states. So instead of having 50 states like we do now, at the time, there were only 48. Ratification is what a state gives the formal consent for something to become law. So after 36 of the states ratified it, that amendment became the 22nd amendment to the United States Constitution, which we'll talk about later on down the line in its own right. So what else does Article 2 even do? Well, it does many more things regarding presidential power. And we don't have time to get all into that or we'll probably get a little more.

But one of the biggest things it does is establish the electoral college. Now, you may have heard of the electoral college before, but probably, probably have no clue what it really is. So a lot of people are pretty confused when they hear about the electoral college. And naturally so, it's not something that most Americans just sit down at the dinner table and talk about. But the founding fathers were very specific in wanting to have an electoral college over just the plain popular vote. Kind of going back to what we were talking about last time with the legislative branch, they wanted to be able to give small states and people who don't live in big metropolitan areas just as equal of a say as everyone else so that all of the legislation and all of the laws aren't doing things that are best for people living in urban Los Angeles, California, but that both them and people living in rural Montana are being watched out for and having laws that help them.

The way each state's electoral college votes are determined is actually by combining the number of people in the Senate with the number of people in the House. So as we discussed last week, every single state has two senators and the representatives are based off a population. So every state has at least three votes in the electoral college. But the way it works when it comes to election day is you go and vote. And what you're actually voting for is who you're. you want to be president, but also who, which party you're wanting to have the electorates in the electoral college. So Michigan has 15 electoral college votes. So when you go to the polls in Michigan on election day, you cast your vote. And the way that works is kind of like the game

of baseball in most states. So let's say, you know, in baseball, you have the World Series. which is a seven-game series, and one team wins four baseball games, and then the other team wins three baseball games. Even though the second team won three baseball games, and there were three times that they performed better, the team that won four is still going to win. And that's how it works in each state with their electoral college votes. So if more people in the state of Michigan want one political party over the other,

then political party A is going to have all of the electoral college votes. And right now, Michigan has 15, so then 15 electoral college votes would go towards party A. And that just means that the 15 electorates, which are a part of the electoral college, would come from Party A. But if Party B had won, the 15 electorates would be people that Party B sent. And those people always go, and they're most places required by law to vote for the candidate that the people had said. So then you tally up all the electoral college votes, and the person who gets the majority of electoral college votes wins the election. So it's really pretty, it sounds harder to understand at first, but if you think about it, like it's a game of baseball and just some simple addition, then you'll have it, handled in no time. But like I said, the founders wanted to make sure that everyone had a say and

everyone was being watched out for. And all the power wasn't concentrated in just these big cities isolated on different parts of the coasts and around the country. All right. So if you guys are anything like me, which I feel like most people come across this question at some point, you've thought at any point in time why a president and what does this even mean so last time we talked about being a constitutional republic at least that's how we were founded and that's that's interesting because you see the word constitution which is exactly what we're talking about here on constitution corner but what that means is that the supreme authority of our country isn't a person or group of people.

So when the founders had just come out of the country they were living in prior to this, that came out from England, they were under a king or a monarchy, where one person has almost all the power. Well, there's people in part of the government, but the king has the ultimate authority. And so the founding fathers wanted to create something that could stand. the test of time that can hold up against the different powers or potentially selfish people that came into office. And so they did that by, you know, the separation of powers. We talked about the legislative branch which has some powers. This week we're talking about the executive

branch, which has different powers, and we'll get into the judicial branch later on. But that's part of it. But what's cool about all of this is that still, these three branches, don't hold the ultimate authority. So the ultimate authority in the United States is actually a document, which was kind of like this new and profound thing when the founders created the idea for the United States. So like we mentioned earlier on, we've learned before, you know, the Articles of Confederation, which came before the Constitution, were super weak and just we're not holding a country together. So they created the Constitution. And in Article, to, they actually have the words, word for word, the oath of office that the president of the

United States takes. So George Washington took this, Joe Biden took this, Donald Trump, took this, Abraham Lincoln, took this, John F. Kennedy took this, every single president of the United States has said, quote, I will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. And that is specified in Article 2, Section 1, Clause 8, the exact words. It's not the only time that an oath of office or an affirmation is required in the Constitution, but it is the only one that has it word for word. And like I said, every single president has said those words.

But what's cool about these words is it's not, I will do my best, the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the people of the United States, which they do through defending the Constitution, or my office, or anything like that. But they are preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution. So I've just always loved this, how they created this document that would protect us and make sure that we live out our freedoms to the fullest. And the government we have, the separation of powers, that's all there, but it's all there to defend the Constitution and the natural rights that the Constitution was founded on. So, I don't know, I just wanted to dive into that a little bit really quickly because I think, you know, we see a lot more countries nowadays

that have presidents, but it wasn't as common back whenever the United States had one. Now, we weren't the first country to have a president, so to speak, but this structure of government that we have definitely was unique in its own sense coming from a conglomeration of different historical researching and things like that that the founding fathers did. But I just wanted to point that out that the Constitution is the ultimate authority. And even when the president, who a lot of people view as the head honcho of America, even when the president takes their oath of office, it is to defend the Constitution and to submit to the Constitution. And so I just, Absolutely love that. So now the full text of what they say is, I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

So that's why we do what we do here. It is so important for everybody to understand this important. document the supreme authority of our nation. Now, I know this is everyone's favorite part, so let's get right on into it. It is now time for our pop culture segment. So do I have some movies for you guys today? First up, if you're looking for something a little bit more informational, I came across the movie, we fight to be free, which is a 2006 biographical 18-minute short film, and it's about George Washington. So the little synopsis is the story of George Washington's

most important military achievements and special personal moments of his life. The film sheds new light on an old hero by portraying him as a kind and brave man who changed the history of the world. So that one looks like it's a little less about the presidency,

but more bringing a sense of humanity and personality to this historical figure that sets so much of the tone for the president. presidency we see nowadays. So that might be a good context film. Now if you're looking for something a little bit more comedic, we have those too. They've made some comedic movies. Just one of them is Man of the Year starring Robin Williams. It's about a comedian who hosts a news satire program and decides to run for president. And then a computerized voting machine malfunctions to get him

elected. That, I don't even know. If that happened in real life, that would be a crazy series of events. And of course, that's, like I said, starring the late Robin Williams, who was known for these kind of roles of movies. And then I just couldn't not mention it, guys. The one I swear I've heard everywhere is Hamilton. Now, Alexander Hamilton was never a president of the United States, but he did work in the cabinet and he was friends with a lot of our founding fathers that became presidents and so he too had a large role in all of this and of course George Washington is in the film so this is just some funny fun great context for the founding era of when all of this was established and Hamilton's life which like I said wasn't directly in the presidency but you know

he wrote speeches for Washington he He worked a lot with the treasury. He did a lot of these really important things that affected the presidency as well. And now, for my last pop culture shout-out, I just could not mention this guys. And I was in fourth grade at my school. They have us do something called the presidential rap,

and we all have a president, and there's just a huge rap we learn with all of their names. And I thought this was like a niche experience at my school until I started realizing that this is just like a rap, on the internet that multiple, multiple schools do. So like at my school, we do it every year in fourth grade, and the whole school comes and listens. So you hear it every year, you know all the lyrics,

and it's always the funniest thing to pull out when I'm with my friends at college, because they just think it's the most hilarious thing. They're like, what even is this? But if you also do this at your school, no, you are not alone. So without further ado, the presidential rap. Presidential rap. Looking up on YouTube, the presidents,

always a fun thing to learn. I'll go back and look at the lyrics sometimes. or just randomly start singing it for my friends in college that haven't heard it before, and they always think it is the funniest thing, because you've either experienced this very niche experience, or you have it, or are really confused by it. So, like I said, we only looked at the first, like 16 presidents, but there have been many more because 16 was just Abraham Lincoln,

and that was back at the Civil War. So that is always something funny. And shout out to my school, who had us all learn that, because now I know the presidents of the United States. All righty guys. Now, the moment we have all been waiting for, it's time for the pop quiz. Okay, so first up,

so it's going to take us back to the very beginning of today's segment, which president served four terms in office. All right, make your final guesses. Drumroll, please. It is FDR. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. All righty guys. Next up is number two.

What analogy can we use to remember the electoral college? Guesses? That's right. A game of baseball. or I should say a series of baseball. All righty. Last but certainly not least, question number three. Which comedic movie stars Robin Williams,

a comedian who hosts a news satire program and decides to run for president where a computerized voting machine malfunctions to get him elected. What is the name of that movie? If you guessed man of the year, you'd be correct. Congratulations, guys. You all performed so well on today's pop quiz. I might have to start making these harder.

I don't know. Alrighty. That brings us to a conclusion today, you guys. It has been such a pleasure exploring the quirks of Article 2 with y'all. So make sure to tune back in next week for our highlight of article three. That one is also going to be pretty crazy. Honestly, I think even crazier than this one. So make sure to check us out on Instagram at Constitution Corner. And if you want to re-listen to these, listen anywhere you get your podcasts. I am your host, Manningley Watson, and this has been

Constitution Corner on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.