Posted on 02/25/2016 9:26:00 AM PST by Fhios
In a bit of unusual news, the Utah Senate voted 20-6 to ask Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment of the Constitution. The 17th Amendment allows for the direct election of senators. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Al Jackson (R-Highland) argued that the 17th Amendment was not what the founders of the country had intended and changed the meaning of the role of the senators.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
This is preferable. One amendment at a time: do NOT open up a convention.
Pre-17th States either elected by popular vote, elected by the States legislature or appointed and approved by the legislature.
We need this, put the Senate back on the States leash.
You can start a Constitutional amendment by a 2/3 vote in both Houses of Congress, or by application of 2/3 of the state legislatures (Article V). So this is, actually, a start. They’re about 36 states away from forcing a vote, though.
Does not the name “senator” translate to “An inept humaniod even more corrupt and stupid than a member of the house”?
The 17th is the cause of all this nation’s ills.
If we didn’t have it the US would now be just like it was under the gipper :Lots of jobs and less moral anarchy.
It gave us Obama.
Getting rid of it will be like electing Trump, it will fix everything.
.
I do not think those who passed the 17th amendment could envision a time when the electorate was so stupid they would elect dunces like Bob Casey, Jr., Patricia Bin Murray or that idiot from Missouri who cruised to re-election because her moronic opponent was caught making an idiotic comment about rape.
On the other hand, I couldn't see state legislatures electing stalwart people like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee or Jeff Sessions. So it is a mixed bag.
Hell, no ! It was an abject failure when it was tried the last time. I don’t want crooked state legislators choosing their equally crooked pals to go to DC to loot what’s left of the country. We’d never get a Conservative Senator again.
Article V is the way to go. Pansies that fear the worst are not patriots.
The 16th amendment did its part too.
A constitutional convention cannot be restrained by
legislation stating its purpose. Once convened, it can do
anything it wants and each state will have a proportional
amount of delegates including the NE, Illinois and
California all of which are liberal the last time I checked.
Like I said Art V is the way to go, if the country is at a point where an article V is going to ruin it THEN THERE IS NOTHING TO LOOSE.
Maybe we should have April 15 as a holiday for government workers.
LOOSE.= LOSE.
"In a bit of unusual news, the Utah Senate voted 20-6 to ask Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment of the Constitution."
This is a very strange statement.
Although Congress has the constitutional authority to propose new amendments to the Constitution to the states for ratification as evidenced by the Constitutions Article V, only the states have the constitutional authority to ratify an amendment proposed by either the states or Congress.
I can understand what Utah is doing if it really wants Congress to propose a repeal 17th Amendment to the states for ratification. Having Congress propose an amendment bypasses Article Vs requirement for a constitutional convention if the states want to propose and ratify a new amendment.
Also, note that all the states are in the poorhouse because corrupt Congress has, for many generations, been stealing state revenues in the form of unconstitutional federal taxes.
”Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” - Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
It was originally the Senates job to kill unconstitutional House appropriations bills, bills which steal not only 10th Amendment-protected state powers, but also steal state revenues uniquely associated with those powers. But the ill-conceived 17th Amendment destroyed the firewall that the Senate provided.
The bottom line is that the corrupt Washington cartel will probably fight tooth-and-nail to keep the money-stealing 17th Amendment.
Utah is on the cutting edge of everything. I may just have to move there.
I would prefer to solve the country’s problems without
resorting to this option, because there is no going back if
a con-con is called. And how can we be sure who will be
sent as delegates from “conservative” states?
Yep, and pre-17th, numerous Senators were discovered to have attained their position by bribing state party officials.
Utah has some of the worst RINO Governors in the country, which is bizarre since the state is rock solid Republican. The douchebags they elect there are worse than the pro-abortion "Republican" Governor we have here in Illinois who is trying to purge the IL Senate of any conservative who won't rubber stamp his policies, and that's really saying something.
And don't me started on their "conservative" Congressmen... pro-amnesty Chris Cannon was replaced with so-called "true conservative" Jason Chaffetz -- who turned out to be WORSE!
Repealing the 17th, which I fully agree to, does not put anyone out of a job, it merely changes the way they are elected. The Senate was established to be the representatives of the states via the state legislatures. so if the senators are voting on line with the interests of the states, then there is no threat of them losing their job & their seat filled by another who will work to support the interests of their home state.
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