3. The Flaw of the 17th Amendment
.... In the beginning of the republic, U.S. Senators were chosen by state legislatures. Their job was to represent, not only the people of their state, but the state itself as an entity. However, the system became rife with infighting and corruption. The senate degenerated through crony systems that allowed citizens to be neglected in favor of industrialists and financiers. Change was needed and it came in the form of the 17th Amendment.
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.... After the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators were elected directly by the citizens of their states. While this helped address the crony system, the next 100 years revealed a worrisome drawback as well. The states were no longer represented as entities at the federal level, and the balance of power was disturbed. The federal legislature grew more powerful and unfunded mandates were born.
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.... In the years since then, Senators have drifted further and further from their former state ties, and even from championing the citizens of their states. Instead, the senate has become a national office in its own right. When Hillary Clinton moved to New York, or Elizabeth Dole moved to North Carolina, simply because senate seats were open and winnable, who can believe that a concern for those states (or even those regions) motivated their decisions? Why, then, had they not lived there preciously? Or why had they not run for office in their own states, since the states they chose were more than a thousand miles away?
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.... As the highest priority in fixing our system of government, attention must be given to restoring the balance of power that the states once held. Only through another powerful entity, a coalition of the states, can the abuses of the federal government be checked – for the federal government has already shown itself willing to disregard the will of the people. This is not to say that the 17th amendment should be repealed; but rather, that its drawback should be compensated from another direction. We will discuss this further in our next posting.
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.... After the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators were elected directly by the citizens of their states. While this helped address the crony system, the next 100 years revealed a worrisome drawback as well. The states were no longer represented as entities at the federal level, and the balance of power was disturbed. The federal legislature grew more powerful and unfunded mandates were born.
.
.... In the years since then, Senators have drifted further and further from their former state ties, and even from championing the citizens of their states. Instead, the senate has become a national office in its own right. When Hillary Clinton moved to New York, or Elizabeth Dole moved to North Carolina, simply because senate seats were open and winnable, who can believe that a concern for those states (or even those regions) motivated their decisions? Why, then, had they not lived there preciously? Or why had they not run for office in their own states, since the states they chose were more than a thousand miles away?
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.... As the highest priority in fixing our system of government, attention must be given to restoring the balance of power that the states once held. Only through another powerful entity, a coalition of the states, can the abuses of the federal government be checked – for the federal government has already shown itself willing to disregard the will of the people. This is not to say that the 17th amendment should be repealed; but rather, that its drawback should be compensated from another direction. We will discuss this further in our next posting.
1 Comments:
Excellent. The purpose of our representatives is to represent the state and the people. Like you noted, when people start moving around to fill senate seats there motives are questionable. They obviously know they would not win in their states and most of the time with good reason. If I lived in NY and Hillary started running for Senate I would not have voted for her based on that one reason. Why will those in your state not re-elect or elect you? What do they know we do not.
Many senators are looking for a job, not representing the people of their state!
Solution, each individual in each state need to know those people they are sending up to the Federal level, carefully review their past political history, then ask themselves, will this person accurately represent the state and the people. Then, each state must hold the Federal government responsible for upholding the constitution. If the representative does not uphold his constitutional responsibility then he needs to be taken out of office. The problem we are facing is there are representatives from states in the senate who wield to much power and have sold this nation out for their own political gain
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Anonymous, at July 26, 2010 at 2:02 PM
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