Scalia Defends The Constitution, Questions The 17th Amendment

Western Journalism ^ | May 13, 2015 | Randy DeSoto

[MosesKnows]

that one person can accurately represent the opinions of 650,000 citizens

Representation does not mean following the mob's wishes.

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion. Edmund Burke Speech to the Electors of Bristol 3 Nov. 1774

[TBP]

Yep, the 17A allowed all power to collapse into Rome-on-the-Potomac.

Yes, exactly why the progressives wanted it.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I only suggested 250K as a discussion, don’t know what the best number is. But I do know that its too many now.

Pay them a modest salary w/a max of 2-3 staff members. If caught selling their vote, Treason.

Thomas Sowell makes the point that adequately competent congressmen - qualified candidates for which are actually “legion” in a Congressional District containing over half a million people - would easily be worth a million dollars a year to the taxpayer. And that one reason we don’t have adequately competent congressmen is that we don’t pay them enough to take time out of their professions to take the job. So we get hacks who want to make a career out of politics. IMHO we should:

• pay really well for a term or two, or three,

• establish term limits, and

• abolish pensions.

[YHAOS]

Thanks for the BEEP!

[Loud Mime]

“The genius of the American constitutional system is the dispersal of power,” he said. “Once power is centralized in one person, or one part [of government], a Bill of Rights is just words on paper.”

One of the troubles with the new constitution was there being no division between the persons making law, those enforcing it, and those who manage the punishment systems. All are paid from essentially the same treasury. that important division is missing.

Can someone help me here? Some founder wrote that if the Federal government engaged in civil lawsuits it would be the first steps into the realm of tyranny of big government (or similar). The Civil Asset Forfeiture laws being a good example. Anybody know this?