Lawmaker believes Legislature should select U.S. senators

The Verde Independent ^ | February 9, 2010 | Howard Fischer

[mick]

I agree with this proposal.

[Nat Turner]

1913 the year of the:

IRS

FEDERAL RESERVE

Direct election of Senators

Time to turn back the clock..and stop those Progressives.

[BerniesFriend]

I believe the 17th amendment was a big mistake..if US Senators were beholden to the state legislatures..we wouldn’t have such runaway federal government..imho..

[Lurker]

The 17th Amendment was a huge mistake and it should be repealed.

[CriticalJ]

I believe electoral college votes should be split by the number of districts won with the two extra votes going to the overall winner. No more winner take all. Imagine democrats only picking up 28 votes in CA instead of 40.

[Jim Robinson]

Repeal the 17th bump!!

Rebellion is brewing!!

[dainbramaged]

The founders of this great nation had it right the first time.

[votemout]

Cal is screwed either way. Look at what we have already elected.

[Publius]

And when they weren't doing what we thought they should be doing, we could recall them at any time.

Incorrect. Senators were chosen by their state legislatures for a 6 year term. Legislatures could not recall them at will.

[mick]

Agree Jim !!

[Nat Turner]

1913 the year of the:

IRS

FEDERAL RESERVE

Direct election of Senators

Time to turn back the clock..and stop those Progressives.

[Liberty1970]

I agree. The 17th amendment is one of the factors that turned state government into mere provincial administrations, subservient to the Federal government. That's the reverse of the principle of keeping governmental power as localized and accountable as possible.

Notice the bias in how they portray it as an attempt to strip voters of their rights? As if federal government under the current setup wasn't doing that on a vast scale already.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The legisl00tures could, apparently, successfully pressure the Sinators to resign, however. (Yes, I spelled it that way on purpose.)

[Nat Turner]

At this point I am all in favor of political triage. Cut their star out of the flag and reduce them to territory status till they can get their s*it together. If they cannot get it together auction their land off to other states.

[goldstategop]

I'm in favor of changing the election method to along the lines of the German Bundesrat... give each state government the power to appoint Senators with instructions to represent the wishes of the states in Congress. It would keep Senators more in touch with what happens in their state capitals and the Senate wouldn't be worse than it is today.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[OldDeckHand]

"1913 the year of the:..."

I agree, absolutely. That year, along 1935 (Social Security Act), was one of the biggest reasons that liberty lost it's primacy to federal rule. It was a HUGE mistake which of course is never spoken about in our public schools. I would wager less than 1% of the graduating seniors in public school even are aware that US Senators were once elected by the state's respective legislatures, to say nothing of why it was a good idea then, and now.

[Publius]

Not exactly. The men chosen as senators were part of the state's political establishment and were good at reading the tea leaves. Legislatures did not need to pass resolutions to "instruct" a senator how to vote, although some did. A guy didn't get to be senator without understanding how his state's politics worked.

There was no need to pressure a senator to resign. If he wasn't welcome anymore, he would know it without being told.

[EternalVigilance]

From our America's Independent Party Platform:

Repeal of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments

We consider the federal income tax to be destructive of our liberty, privacy, and prosperity. Therefore, we are working to bring about its complete elimination and the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We recommend that the current system be replaced by an equitable, simple, noninvasive, visible, efficient tax, one that does not destroy or even infringe upon our economic privacy and liberty.

We also call for the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment. Its enactment greatly reduced the power of our state legislatures and state governments – which are much closer to the people – and damaged our system of federalism.

[bvw]

I think that’s a excellent way to undo the damage of the 17th.