4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
    Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after receipt of the latter declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
Amendment XXVI
1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XXVII
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
The ideas in this book began as a conversation close to thirty years ago in Albany, New York. One of us was a young legislative counsel and the other a young journalist. There is no place where American politics, with all its strengths and weaknesses, lies closer to the surface than in a state legislature. We would circle each other carefully in those days, the journalist trying to get the news, the counsel wanting to spin the news. Even as friendly adversaries, we shared a fascination with (and a respect for) how government worked. Each of us moved on from Albany to other roles, engaged with or observing politics at the city, state and federal level. As we became friends, the conversation deepened and our shared concern about the deterioration of the political system increased. Ultimately, our obsession became a family affair. Over those many years at our many get-togethers in Robbins Rest, Red Rock, Fairfield, Washington and New York, we would return to the topic, joined by our insightful wives, Joyce and Geraldine, and more and more by our children and stepchildren, Adam, Josh, Ben and, as she got older and ever more articulate, Louisa. Finally, a couple of years ago while walking, carefully, in a cow pasture in upstate New York, we decided the conversation needed to be broadened. Hence, this book.
Along this thirty-year path, our understanding of American government and politics has been deepened and enriched by conversations with many people. We could never name them all, but among those we feel a particular intellectual debt to are: JillAbramson, Burt Agata, Johnny Apple, Dean Baquet, Joel Benenson, Rick Berke, Michael Beschloss, Shelly Binn, Gloria Borgia, Gerald Boyd, David Broder, John Broder, Ron Brownstein, Elisabeth Bumiller, Karen Burstein, Hugh Carey, Bob Caro, Jim Carville, Bill Clinton, Adam Clymer, Tony Coelho, Charlie Cook, Les Crystal, Mario Cuomo, Al D'Amato, Michael DelGuidice, E. J. Dionne, Bob Dole, Dick Donelli, Maureen Dowd, Gretchen Dykstra, Tom Edsall, Janet Elder, Steve Engleberg, Stanley Fink, Tom Foley, Ed Fouhy, Max Frankel, Kathy Frankovic, Tom Friedman, Ester Fuchs, Jim Gaines, Newt Gingrich, Peter Goldmark, Al Gore, Linda Greenhouse, Mark Halperin, Melinda Henneberger, Harold Ickes, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Kathy Jameison, Mike Kagay, Al Kaplan, Bill Keller, Mike Kelly, Ed Koch, Andy Kohut, Betsy Kolbert, Bill Kovach, Brian Lamb and his quintessentially American audience, Jim Lehrer, Joe Lelyveld, Tom Mann, Mary Matalin, Frank Mauro, John McCain, Doyle McManus, Bob Michel, Ab Mikva, Arnie Miller, Gifford Miller, David Milrod, Alison Mitchell, Lance Morgan, Eva Moskowitz, Adam Nagourney, Rob Newman, Peggy Noonan, Fred Ohrenstein, Mike O'Neill, Norm Ornstein, Kevin Phillips, Joyce Purnick, Howell Raines, Carmi Rapport, Dick Ravitch, Anne Reingold, Cokie Roberts, Steve Roberts, the Reverend Pat Robertson, David Rosenbaum, Michael Rosenbaum, A. M. Rosenthal, Andy Rosenthal, Stu Rothenberg, Tim Russert, Bill Safire, David Sanger, Eric Schmertz, Fritz Schwarz, Tom Schwarz, Mark Shields, Robin Sproul, Leslie Stahl, Robin Toner, Marcel Vanooyen, Michael Waldman, Jake Weisberg, Steve Weissman and Mort Zuckerman.
Our parents, Susan and Irwin Oreskes and Louise and Jesse Lane, taught us what it meant to be, and what it took to be, Americans.
This is a work of applied history. It explores current challenges through the lessons of history. We learned these lesson from our own reading of many historical texts and, importantly, from the works of a number of fine academics, most of whom are listed in our bibliography. In particular we were influenced by Gordon Wood's incisive studies of the revolutionary period, Michael Kammen's study of the Constitution in American culture and John Dunn's views on the history of democracy. To them we owe a special debt that we repay by urging our fellow Americans to read their works, too.
We also happily acknowledge many who contributed specifically to this effort. Karen Burstein helped work through many problems, and Fritz Schwarz read an entire draft and sharpened our thinking. The Hofstra University School of Law was especially generous in its support of this project. The Brennan Center of Justice at New York University Law School provided a rich environment in which to discuss many of this book's ideas. Our agent, David Black, like us, was not always sure what we were doing, but pushed on anyway. Our editor, Kathy Belden, took our swirl of ideas and got us to make a book. Kevin Shelton of Hofstra kept finding the unfindable. A number of Hofstra Law students participated in this effort. Ella Govshtein and Josh Wolf performed yeoman service in putting together the bibliography and notes and along with Mimi Alinikoff provided valuable research. These students along with another, Gariel Nahoum, all then proofed the text one last time. A special law school seminar focused on the book, and it was greatly improved by the comments of Scott Buszko, Chad Fisher, Alexander Gallin, Nick Garaufis, Robert Henry, Michael Kauke, Dustin Owens, Michael Smith, Frederick Trelfa, and Michael Ushkow. Geraldine Baum read our early proposals and kept saying, “This is not a book,” until she forced us to make it one. Joyce Talmadge read every word, many times, and provided keen perspectives all along the way.
One of the major themes of this book is that we have a constitutional responsibility to fulfill, each in our own way. Arthur Sulzberger and Michael Golden run a company that lives up to the meaning of that responsibility every day. The men and women of the
International Herald Tribune
, led by managing editor Alison Smale, are an inspiration in their devotion to spreading one of America's great creations, nonpartisan journalism, around the world. Sarah Alexander and Isabelle Aubree made it possible for Mike to do his day job while completing this book.
If the ideas in this book have any merit, the credit goes to all those who helped us along the way. Mistakes, distortions, blind spots and biases are very much our own (and, by the way, different between us). Our only defense is that we are just what the framers expected us to beâhuman.
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