Repeal The 17th Amendment!...Let's Reform Government

A quick note: November has been a tough month for me and I haven't been posting anything to this blog. I got burnt out on all the election BS and then a new job has kept really busy. I figure in a week or so I should be back to normal and will give more time to the weblog. Thanks for reading this weblog and please keep spreading the word about the Repeal.

HT: Mike P @ Repeal the 17th Amendment Discussion Board

Repeal The 17th Amendment!...Let's Reform Government; BigGator5's Diary; Red State; 14 November 2008.

...However, that is not what I came to talk about. I came here to talk about repealing the 17th Amendment (please read this before going forward).

I asked before if the amendment should be repeal, but now I think we should definitely work to repeal this injustice to the United States Constitution and States' Rights.

Today, state governments are nothing more than glorified lobbying groups trying to get any scraps of power and money from the federal government. Sure we should have a strong central government, but power should come from the bottom up and not the other way around. Senators are elected, sorry, chosen with a popularity contest every six years at a time and not accountable to anyone. The Average Joe doesn't know what their Senators are doing in those six years, just look at Ted Stevens. The guy would not be re-elected by the Alaskan State Legislature, no matter what kind of pork he brought home. I guarantee you that a person will be elected to the US Senate no more than three times if the 17th is repealed.

You ever watch C-SPAN and see some poor sap get grilled by US Senators? What is good for the goose, is good for the gander. I would love to see them grilled for their actives and laws that they voted for/against. State legislatures are more equipped to hold a fourth of the federal government accountable than we will ever have (think about the $700 Billion Crap Sandwich). State elections will also become more important than they are today.

Zell Miller once said that the 17th Amendment has "allowed Washington’s special interests to call the shots, whether it is filling judicial vacancies, passing laws, or issuing regulations." If we are really serious about reforming government, let us start with the US Senate. Nowadays, more lobbyist money is spent on the US Senate than any body of government. It is way too easy to focus on corrupting just 100 people. You would need billions to corrupt 50 full state legislatures. Senators also will not need those millions just to get elected/re-elected.

So in closing, repealing the 17th Amendment would do three things for us: (1) give more accountability to the US Senate, (2) give more power to the states, and (3) reform campaign finance. If you disagree, then please, it better be a very good reason as to why more of the same is a good idea.

Comment: If you have a chance go to the actual site and read the comments. There were 67 and the author spent a lot of time explaining some additional details to folks that don't quite understand this issue.