And so it has become....
Madison: “If the general government were wholly independent of the governments of the particular states, then, indeed, usurpation might be expected to the fullest extent. But, sir, on whom does this general government depend? It derives its authority from these governments, and from the same sources from which their authority is derived.”
Indeed. The 17th removed State agency from the federal republic. As predicted by Montesquieu, Federalists and Anti-Federalists alike, we slipped into an overwhelming, consolidated national government that oppresses both the States and us with raw force.
I have often said that there be a constitutional amendment that fixes all congressmen/senators in their districts/states and prohibits them from entering the beltway except on very rare invitations, no more than once or twice a year and only for 2 days each time. similarly they should not be allowed travel out of their state except for their own personal vacation, and never paid for on the government’s(the people’s)dime.
sessions of both houses of Congress will be held via teleconference.
George certainly got this one right, and it has become a lot worse since they became popularly elected.
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Some said that the Constitution needed no bill of rights because of the strictly limited and enumerated power of the Federal Government. Hamilton, for example, said that there was no need for there to be a 1st Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech and of the press because the Federal government had no power to restrict speech or the press.
A few years later the Alien and Sedition Act did exactly that.
It was struck down on the grounds that it violated the 1st Amendment.
How much different things might be if it were struck down on the premise that the Federal government didn't have the power to do it.