One time another anti-17th amendment freeper insisted that amnesty for illegals would never be considered if Senators were selected by state governments. Let's examine this one... Senators who currently got their job via appointment from state governments are: Bob Menendez, Michael Bennet, Ted Kaufman, Roland Burris, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Lisa Murkowski. Wow. What a great team fighting for state sovereignty. No doubt they'll form the Senate No Amnesty caucus any day now. Bob Menendez can chair it. ;-)
And speaking of Lisa Murkowski, any bets on whether she would have been retained if the RINO-infested Alaska state legislators got to make the decision? I believe Joe Miller got the endorsement of around 4 or 5 Republican state legislators, the rest were in the tank for Murkowski. Oh well. Politicians know better than the rest us, right?
And when it comes to state governments, it's interesting how those who are the loudest voices against the AZ law have no idea what's in the bill. Likewise, those who most passionately argue that state legislatures should pick our Senators seem to have no idea what kind of people make up the 50 state legislatures around our nation. Perhaps those who advocate for this bill should be required to spend a few days observing their local state legislature "in action" and see what kind of people they'd be handing over the reigns of power to. I've seen my state legislature in session. Have they?
On a final note, perhaps the most telling thing is RAT politicians will always publicly claim to oppose letting state legislatures choose the Senator, but their actions tell another story. During the 2004 U.S. Senate debate between Keyes and Obama, this topic actually came up -- with Keyes arguing the IL state government should pick our Senator for that seat and Obama arguing passionately against it. Keyes picked the question, it seemed like an odd topic since the situation was unlikely to ever come up in real life. But ironically, four years later that scenario came up. Blago was arrested for trying to sell Obama's senate seat. Proposals were made immediately to strip the Governor of having the power to choose the Senator, and let the people of Illinois decide via a special election instead. The state legislature refused to act on this and take power away from the government and give to the people. Since Obama had argued so passionately four years earlier that he didn't want his colleagues in Illinois government to make that choice, you'd think he'd use the bully pulpit and use his weight to press for a special election so the people can decide. But no, Obama left it up to his pals in the state legislature. And the result is Blago gave us Roland Burris.
So thanks to Barack, Alan Keyes got his way all along. We now have a Senator selected by Illinois state government in that seat.
“So thanks to Barack, Alan Keyes got his way all along. We now have a Senator selected by Illinois state government in that seat.”
Blago was impeached and removed from office BY THE STATE LEGISLATOR(Same body that the founders rightfully choose to select senators) for trying to sell a Senate seat for PERSONAL(Not State) gain.