Election Time U.S. Government Trivia

Well, election season is entering into the playoffs and the whole nation has politics fever, so lets take a look at some phun phaktz* about US politics:

The Executive Branch:

• The United States has made huge advances in tolerance over the past century as evinced by the election of the first Catholic President in 1960, the first African-American President in 2008, and possibly the first Robot President in 2012. We will never have a married female president because "FGOTUS" doesn't roll off the tongue.

• From 1804 to 2006, the Office of the Vice President was not involved in a single shooting!

The Judicial Branch:

• The Supreme Court is the second-highest court in the United States, beneath the Supreme Basketball Court located on the top floor of the Supreme Court Building.

• The Supreme Court currently consists of 8 Justices who rule on the cases presented to them. Each of the 8 justices gets an equal say in the decision except for Antonin Scalia who votes a second time under the pseudonym "Clarence Thomas"

The Legislative Branch:

• Some states like Wyoming and Hawaii have as many or fewer Congresspersons as they do Senators. This is because those states are stupid losers.

• Even if the president vetoes a bill, the House and Senate can still pass it by a 2/3 majority. Notable examples of overridden vetoes include the Cutters and Steamers Revenue Act of 1845 , the War Powers Act of 1973, and the Franklin Pierce Can Go Fuck Himself Act of 1856.

State Governments:

• Some states have laws restricting what their elected officials can do after serving. In Florida, former governors cannot run for office for four years after serving 2 terms. In Illinois, former governors are sent to prison.

• Prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, fewer than 10% of African-Americans were able to vote in states south of the Mason-Dixon line. This was due to the Coriolis Effect.

The Parties:

• It recently came to light that in 2000 Ronald Reagan voted for Al Gore for president, but less well-known is the fact that in 2003 Gerald Ford voted for Larry Flynt in the California Gubernatorial recall election.

• The US president is not elected directly, but rather by the greatly esteemed and educated members of the Electoral College who vote with their parties. This system was set up to prevent an uninformed population from electing a disastrously unqualified president. The Founding Fathers' longest running ironic joke finally paid off in the year 2000.


*phaktz are not affiliated with facts.