Posted on 12/21/2017 12:54:36 AM PST by Jacquerie
The Senate was not a mess as it is today. And the States had a lot of power whereas today they have none.
The local state legislator is a neighbor who can’t run and hide. The US Senator can hide and send you weasel words. You have ZERO power over a US Senator unless you’re a one percenter.
As for people repealing the 17th, they will do so when they are offered to trade a vote to elect for a vote to recall; a power to fire rather than hire. Recall empowers, places people on the preferred board, rather than as common shareholders. Recall is much, much more powerful.
Yes, duly noted in footnote #1.
You had a rough time in school, huh?
That's odd, last time I checked, my state senator is a Chicago DemocRAT who was gerrymandered into a mostly suburban district. The 20% of the district in the city is in an ultra Democrat turf that votes 95% D so they get to dictate who "represents" the rest of us, regardless of how the REST of the district votes.
He had no problem "running and hiding" from his constituents when he made some statement about shutting down home schooling in this state and we tried to melt down the phone lines in his Springfield office. Very rarely does he EVER meet with "his" constituents in the suburbs. He's a loyal Mike Madigan puppet and pretty much rubber stamps whatever the Illinois House Speaker tells him to, despite being a member of the other house.
Sorry reality doesn't gel with your talking points.
Ironic. You realize Recall was started during the SAME "progressive era" from 1913-1917 that the 16th and 17th amendment came out of, right? Yep, the SAME era you're claiming that ANYTHING created during that time period is AUTOMATICALLY evil because Woodrow Wilson was President.
The framers of the U.S. constitution considered the possibility of allowing Recall of federal and state officials, but REJECTED it. They strongly felt politicians should only be removed by impeachment, so that is what became the law of the land in 1787.
In the early 20th century, the Progressive Movement, especially in western states, sought more direct democracy by promoting the enactment of Recall laws. California lead the effort in 1912, a product of "progressive leader" Hiram Johnson's campaign promise. By 1920, about a dozen states had successfully enactment such provisions. North Dakota (also under "progressive" rule at the time) was the first state to successfully recall a statewide official, in 1921.
The state legislatures would have paid closer attention to the performance of their Senators than the general public, because the public is distracted by their daily lives, and the Senators' behavior reflected on those in the legislature who voted for him.
A legislature that reappointed a corrupt Senator would not last long in their own seats when going back to their own neighbors for reelection.
Or so seems the argument.
-PJ
Anyone who seriously believes that you’d have CONSERVATIVES as a result of those GOP legislatures is misinformed. In Texas alone, they can’t get rid of a left-wing RINO House Speaker who maintains power via a coalition of Democrats and weak-kneed RINO pantywaists. Here in TN, despite a similar 2/3rds+ GOP majority, we also have a RINO House Speaker and have yet to elect a Conservative to the post.
You’d have similar “coalitions” electing left-wing, treasury-looting cretins and reprobates to the Senate just like these Speakers.
The 16th and 17th amendments were a gift to us from Theodore Roosevelt (and a continuation of his wishes through Taft), not Woodrow Wilson.
...and don’t forget the Federal Reserve, all products of the worst year in American history, 1913.
Thank you for the correct info. Many people/conservatives don’t realize how Progressive TR was.
We reflexively call the government “federal,” when it hasn’t been so since 1913. It is very close to the National government idea that was roundly defeated at the Philadelphia convention.
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