I’m a big fan of Al Greens.

There’s no apostrophe missing there. Of course, you need to be made of stone not to enjoy the minister who sang “Let’s Stay Together” and “I’m Still in Love With You.”

But the other Al Green, a Democratic Congressman from the Houston area for 20 years, made some fans (me) and a bunch of enemies (not me) when he verbally challenged Trump during his “Look at Me” speech last night. Green was removed from the House floor by order of one of Trump’s pets, Mike Johnson.

I’m not usually a fan of disruptors, Civility requires listening to other people’s points of view.

But that was when we were a civil society. Something that ended on January 20. Since then, thousands of federal employees are no longer at their jobs, tariffs have been imposed on the two best neighbors any country in the world has ever had and the bravest politician in the world – a leader whose valiant nation has held off a brutal invader for three years – endured a public temper tantrum by two Russian dolls.

Rep. Green stood up to say what this is – bullshit. Letting it go unchecked and adulated by the sycophants in the Republican Party wasn’t an option for him.

It shouldn’t be one for us.

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Anyway, I’m still reading the Constitution backward. I skipped Amendment 16 last week because I wanted to emphasize the Reconstruction amendments – 13, 14 and 15 – to cap Black History Month. 

So let me start with 16, and then look at 12 and 11.

16th Amendment: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Given the animosity with which Red states direct toward taxation, it might surprise you to know which state legislature first ratified the 16th Amendment. The answer will be below.

Somewhat timely, before this amendment’s ratification in 1913, the federal government’s main source of revenue was tariffs. Importers would bring in whatever they were selling in this country, the government would add the tariff and then the product would be sold.

As then, the country targeted by the tariff wasn’t paying it – the final consumer was. The other country was hurt by the fact that their products were less competitive in the marketplace than those made in the United States. Tariffs, in addition to being revenue sources, were aimed at protecting American businesses – that’s their normal rationale.

They usually aren’t imposed for some nebulous reason or some lame political aim. People in the 1890s would be dumbfounded by what Trump did.

Because consumers paid the final cost, they were seen as regressive. People with lower incomes were spending a larger percentage of overall wealth on things than those who were wealthy.

So the impetus for the 16th came from the West and South. The opposition was primarily in the Northeast – of the four state legislatures that rejected the amendment, two were Connecticut and Rhode Island. Pennsylvania never considered it.

The amendment blocks the idea of each state needing to contribute a specific amount and that size of the state’s population is not a factor in the levy.

Alabama was the first state to ratify the 16th Amendment. It’s probably embarrassed by that fact now.

12th Amendment: The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; — the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;

 — The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. 

— The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Four points about this amendment:

— So, as all you “Hamilton” fans know, in the first few president elections, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes for president. The man (no 19th Amendment yet) with the highest total that was a majority of the votes cast became president. The runner-up became vice president.

If this rule was in effect now, we’d still have Trump. But we’d also have Vice President Kamala Harris (again). The person a heartbeat away from the presidency could, theoretically, be very interested in making that other heart stop beating – and vice versa.

And, in 1804, when a pissed off Aaron Burr blamed Alexander Hamilton for finishing second in the prior election. Burr finished Hamilton.

So that was one of the primary purposes of the 12th Amendment. Now, the Electoral College voted for separate people – running mates – for president and vice president.

— In the last sentence of that first section, do you see anything that indicates the person counting the Electoral College votes – the president of the Senate, who’s the sitting vice president – has any leeway into how those votes are counting?

Where do these people get these stupid ideas? Mike Pence might not have been the smartest guy in America on January 6, 2021. But, thankfully, he could read.

— Right in the middle of that wordy second section above is the date of March 4th. If he he 20th Amendment hadn’t passed in the early 1930s, Inauguration Day would have been this past Tuesday.

Which would have been worse – waiting four months to inaugurate Trump or beginning the chaos we’ve experienced since January 20 a couple of days ago?

— It’s not only the 22nd Amendment that stops Trump from having a third team. It’s also the 12th. Because the 22nd specifies that Trump can’t run again in 2028, he’s constitutionally ineligible to be vice president, which some have suggested might be his way around the third term thing.

11th Amendment: The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

I, a New Yorker, am limited in the ways I can go to federal court to get remedy from a perceived wrong in another state.

This amendment means I can’t try to overturn Texas’ draconian abortion laws in federal court, and some yahoo in Waco can’t try to overturn New York’s laws.

The federal government, on the other hand, is still free to go after states for stupid laws – that’s how a lot of Jim Crow laws got bounced in the 1960s.

This seems like one of those amendments that’s a little fungible.