Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Greatest Senators Came Before 1913 And Popular Election

The Greatest Senators Came Before 1913 And Popular Election; Wall Street Journal

It is interesting that all of the great senators mentioned in Jay Winik's "Kennedy for the Ages" (op-ed, Aug. 28) served prior to 1913 and the ratification of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. That amendment changed the selection of senators from the state legislatures to popular election (superceding Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution.)

Maybe our founders did know something about the need to temper the democratic tendencies of the House with a more republican Senate. Alexis de Tocqueville, that astute French observer of our nation, certainly thought they had the right idea.

Chris Daly
Yucaipa, Calif.

Comment: Great comment Chris!

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