That may very well be true although I have yet to see hard evidence that the 17A popular state vote for senator is a critical factor although it may very well be a contributor.
There are too many issues that threaten to extinguish our lives, liberties, and free pursuits in America to try to tackle them all at the same time. If we don't prioritize the problems and the solutions, our focus will be dissipated and our effect weakened. The first step is identifying the most critical political problem(s) America faces. The second step is identifying the underlying causes and then the best solution to beat the problem(s).
Without a doubt, the #1 problem in our land is the behemoth size of the mostly unconstitutional $4 trillion federal government which sometimes makes a feint show of abiding by the Constitution but has long since departed from its original intent and understanding. The Obama administration is the last in a long line that has brought the resulting tyranny of the Rule of Man front and center. If we the people do not recover the Constitutional Rule of Law, we lose the ONLY legal bulwark protecting our freedoms and are left with tyranny. THAT IMO, is the #1 problem.
How has the federal government manged to accumulate this massive and unconstitutional size and power? Up until now, it has been mostly judicial activism on the part of SCOTUS allowing and ratifying unconstitutional federal power not contemplated by our Founders. The top three political causes, IMO, are:
1) "The Incorporation Doctrine" (judicially misapplied to the 14th Amendment)leading to a growth in the feds power not contemplated by the ratifiers of the 14A and leading to a parade of horribles like banning prayer and Bible study in state schools, 70+ million abortions, threatening gun rights, interference with state marriage laws, threatening free exercise of religion, etc.
. 2) The [Interstate] Commerce Clause (Art I, Sec 8, Cl 3)expanded to give the feds almost unlimited power over intrastate and local economic activities leading to minimum wage laws, individual subsidies, and interference in just about every business enterprise and economic endeavor, the latest, most obvious being the push to socialize healthcare with "Obamacare".
3) The "Necessary and Proper Clause" (Art I, Sec 8, Cl 18) expanded beyond constitutional grounds and limits to such an extent that a quasi-fourth branch of government has been created: the Administrative State with behemoth bureaucracies like the $1 trillion unconstitutional Dept of Health and Human Services.
Although the 17A issue may be an important one (I certainly believe in the republican principle of decentralized representation), I think these other issue are more directly the causes of our #1 problem.
What political solutions? Well, one is the Article V Convention of States for proposing certain amendments limited to the issues of out-of-control government. There are many steps to this and it will hopefully be successful. However, even if somehow the right amendments with the right "airtight" language are ratified, there is a concern about enforcement if these amendments do what they should do: slash the unconstitutional part of the federal government which is probably at least 80%. Who's going to force the hundreds of thousands of government officials, bureaucratic heads, and government workers to pack their bags with no job and leave D.C.? I think we've reached the point where the feds are so big and powerful that they are simply not going to do much of anything to substantially downsize itself, regardless of the Constitution or constitutional amendments.
What does that leave us with for a solution? State nullification of unconstitutional federal law. Leave off cajoling, forcing, begging, trying to fix the feds who don't want to be fixed and let the states assert their constitutional power as supported by the Supremacy Clause and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. State sovereignty. I think that's where we are right now.
CWII.
Very good analysis; actually quite good. Certainly losing suffrage of state legislatures to Congress was a contributor and in my view a critical factor. Influence in the Senate can reverse all the abuses you cite above, even those abuses committed by the judiciary as the Senate has a role in confirming judges and in setting budgets and numbers throughout the judiciary.
Today we have hindsight and we also have Mark Levin’s excellent suggestions for amendments. We also have the excellent members that drive the COS Project and we have ALEC, all of which are quite valuable.
As for Article V, it may be a challenge for people to even find out who their state legislators are but one must do needs to be done and send the state legislators the below amendment proposal. We can be assured that state legislators will like it very much because it’s right up their alley, it’s natural for them with virtually no state level political repercussions.
Here’s what they need to propose as an amendment to the Constitution:
________________________________________
To redress the balance of powers between the federal government and the States and to restore effective suffrage of State Legislatures to Congress, the following amendment is proposed:
AMENDMENT XXVIII
Section 1.
A Senator in Congress shall be subject to recall by their respective state legislature or by voter referendum in their respective state.
Section 2.
Upon a majority vote in two-thirds of state legislatures, federal statutes and federal court decisions shall be overridden.
Section 3.
Term limits for Senators in Congress shall be set by vote in their respective state legislatures but in no case shall be set less than twelve years.
________________________________________
If Section 1 above is replaced with a repeal of the 17th Amendment, that may be even better but it may be a hard sale. Recalling US Senators gets the job done for state legislatures and it also requires interaction with the voters as they retain the right to vote for their US Senator.
With the above amendment, there would be no Obamacare, no same-sex marriage nonsense, no Executive Amnesty and so on. Most of the social issue tyranny would go away. And with Section 2. above, all of the abuses you cite could be deliberated and overridden.
It will truly be us (states) against them (feds)
Will the rank and file UIV realize it ?
Well said.
All you have to do is get those wimp @$$ governors to stand up, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I have been advocating this as a CW II prevention move for a long time.
Then again I felt like the TEA Party Caucus should change their party affiliation to deny a majority to the traitorous GOPe....
Bumping your post to the top and repeating a portion of it:
“How has the federal government manged to accumulate this massive and unconstitutional size and power? Up until now, it has been mostly judicial activism on the part of SCOTUS allowing and ratifying unconstitutional federal power not contemplated by our Founders. The top three political causes, IMO, are:
1) “The Incorporation Doctrine” (judicially misapplied to the 14th Amendment)leading to a growth in the feds power not contemplated by the ratifiers of the 14A and leading to a parade of horribles like banning prayer and Bible study in state schools, 70+ million abortions, threatening gun rights, interference with state marriage laws, threatening free exercise of religion, etc.
. 2) The [Interstate] Commerce Clause (Art I, Sec 8, Cl 3)expanded to give the feds almost unlimited power over intrastate and local economic activities leading to minimum wage laws, individual subsidies, and interference in just about every business enterprise and economic endeavor, the latest, most obvious being the push to socialize healthcare with “Obamacare”.
3) The “Necessary and Proper Clause” (Art I, Sec 8, Cl 18) expanded beyond constitutional grounds and limits to such an extent that a quasi-fourth branch of government has been created: the Administrative State with behemoth bureaucracies like the $1 trillion unconstitutional Dept of Health and Human Services.
Although the 17A issue may be an important one (I certainly believe in the republican principle of decentralized representation), I think these other issue are more directly the causes of our #1 problem.”