Vox Writer Wants 'Anti-Democratic' U.S. Senate Abolished

NewsBusters ^ | January 3, 2015 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

WAAAAAAH!!! I don't like my Windows 8 so I think I'll dump it!

Okay, no big deal. Most of us are not pleased with that operating system. However, Dylan Matthews of General Electric Vox displays the same glibness which, while perhaps appropriate to switching computer operating systems, is completely absurd when wanting to toss over 200 years of constitutional federalism overboard by deciding to abolish the U.S. Senate because he has decided it is "anti-democratic." Here is Dylan making the case that the Founding Fathers were in error:

[PJ-Comix]

The dirty little secret of the Left which isn't so secret is they HATE the U.S. Constitution. Too many checks and balances on the power of government for them.

[I cannot think of a name]

I guess that also means we have to redraw the boundaries of the states to make them all the same size, and people will have to be resettled so that every state has the same number.

Yea, that should be easy.

[KarlInOhio]

I wonder how Dylan would feel about a unicameral parliament instead of a bicameral legislature with separation of powers from the executive? Prime Minister Boehner would be going into his fifth year of nearly unrestricted power.

[correctthought]

Well, the senate as intended would have the senators appointed by the governors of their respective states to represent the state's interest in dc.

I think it would have been better if it had remained that way.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Good luck getting a constitutional amendment abolishing the Senate passed by 2/3 of the Senate and House and 2/3 of the states.

Of course, the Constitution now says whatever 5 out of 9 Supreme Court Justices say it says. If the Supreme Court can discover previously unknown constitutional rights to sodomy and homosexual marriage then there is no telling what else they may find.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I guess that also means we have to redraw the boundaries of the states to make them all the same size, and people will have to be resettled so that every state has the same number. Yea, that should be easy.

I assure you they could jerrymander something up to their liking in no time at all.

[Sherman Logan]

Well, as long as he goes about making the changes he wants in a constitutional way, more power to him. Go for it! All it takes is 2/3 of each House of Congress and 3/4 of the state legislatures.

He is exactly right that the Senate is anti-democratic. That is a feature, not a bug.

Oddly, nobody’s ever been able to whip up much enthusiasm for changing the system. Nobody seems to care much that it takes 75 Californians to equal the vote for the Senate of one guy from Wyoming.

Of course, if the two Houses are elected on the exact same basis, what’s the point of having two?

[Sherman Logan]

the senate as intended would have the senators appointed by the governors of their respective states

Nope, elected by the legislatures.

Which meant campaigns for the legislature often were dominated by who would be elected to the Senate. That's what the Lincoln/Douglas debates were about, elections to the IL legislature.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I knew this kind of BS was going to happen when they replaced history and civics with putting condoms on cucumbers in our so called schools. These kids are blithering idiots and morons. They are experts at molesting cucumbers however.

[SunkenCiv]

Entertainment industry a-holes have been crying out for Obama to be able to rule by decree since 2009. This joker is no less a threat to personal liberty and public safety than they are.

[Bob]

Did the original method require elections by the state legislatures or was that a matter left to each state to decide for itself? Sorry, I don’t have a copy of the Constitution handy to check.

[Libloather]

Here we go again...

Hillary Calls For End To Electoral College

"We are a very different country than we were 200 years ago," Clinton said. "I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it's time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president."

[griswold3]

Mob Rule by a bunch of morons who can’t even take care of themselves but know exactly what’s good for ‘all of us’. For the ‘Common Good’ of course.

[PJ-Comix]

Well, the senate as intended would have the senators appointed by the governors of their respective states to represent the state's interest in dc.

Or selected by the state Legislatures.

[hanamizu]

If I remember correctly, the one area that can’t be altered by amendment to the Constitution is that each state is entitled to two senators. If he wants to get rid of the Senate as it now stands (each state is equally represented) you have to get rid of the whole Constitution.

[PJ-Comix]

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I guess that also means we have to redraw the boundaries of the states to make them all the same size, and people will have to be resettled so that every state has the same number.

Well, if we to "migrate" all the blue cdistrict residents into NYC, and remove the hated police, things would get much better...quickly.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...chosen by the Legislature thereof...”

[FatherofFive]

The dirty little secret of the Left which isn't so secret is they HATE the U.S. Constitution.

And most of them never read it. Democracy NEVER appears in the Constitution.

Article IV Section. 4.

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.

We need to repeal the 17th amendment and make our government even MORE Republican.

[Publius]

Article V says that if a state is to be deprived of equal representative in the Senate, it must approve. This means that if California wants 5 senators while every other state gets two, then all 50 states would have to ratify, not just 38. Any amendment changing equal representation must have unanimous consent of the states to enter the Constitution.