It takes energy to stay organized.

Rocky & I were doing some book redecorating today. Things had gotten a bit out of hand, organizationally speaking. I needed to make sure the books I need most frequently were conveniently located. In so doing, I came across one that came in very handy this evening:

The Constitution of the United States: Its Sources and Its Application. Thomas James Norton. The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York. 1943.

To refresh my memory of Article I Section 7(2) of the Constitution of the United States of America, I checked that crappy old book, and just to be sure, a history text. And what do you know? 

The word “veto” does not appear in the Constitution!

Nevertheless… . A bill returned without the President’s signature can be “reconsidered.” Imagine that! A bill to repeal a law is still a bill and without a signature can be reconsidered. If said reconsideration results in the bill passing, again– this time by a two-thirds majority of both houses– … well then, Dude, the bill is a law and the old law is repealed. So again, it’s not entirely up to you, Dude.

This Constitution stuff is not that complicated. In a text I just checked, The Constitution is eight pages long, in about 10pt font, and includes the Amendments.  

Think about that! The entire organizational structure of the Federal government– legislative, judicial & executive– was laid out in fewer than eight pages. Of course, that was back in the crappy olden days before the World Wide Web. And all those Framers had to do was to get 13 states to ratify the thing.