From Eloquent Advocates to Boorish Hacks

From Eloquent Advocates to Boorish Hacks; Big Government

The 17th Amendment is stupid:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years….

But let me start at the beginning. Article I § 3 cl. 1 of the Constitution originally established the election of Senators through the state legislatures. The Federalist #62 laid out numerous arguments for the Constitutional framework of the Senate and its method of selection.

The senatorial trust, which, requiring greater extent of information and stability of character, requires at the same time that the senator should have reached a period of life most likely to supply these advantages….

Years later, Alexis de Tocqueville made some observations about the Senate in “Democracy in America.”

The Senate is composed of eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and statesmen of note, whose arguments would do honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates of Europe.

We went from great statesmen like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Calhoun prior to the 17th Amendment, to that of Al Franken.

This man would never have been elected to the Senate prior to the 17th Amendment.

A number of issues in the Missouri Senate race highlight the problems with the 17th Amendment, which leads me to US Senate candidate Robin Carnahan (D-MO).

As a Missouri blogger pointed out, she has no clue what a “banking executive” does or which side of the podium the state and national flags should be placed, let alone what her role would be as a Senator from Missouri. Evidence of this can be found in her recent smears of US Senate candidate Roy Blunt (R-Missouri). She accuses Blunt of being a proponent for a “Big Oil Bailout” in light of the recent BP oil spill. Her accusations were quickly debunked by left-leaning factcheck.org. Of course, the bigger issue here is what the hell that has to do with Missouri. What should concern Missourians is Democrat support for Cap & Trade that has been influenced by BP and would harm Missouri taxpayers. Robin Carnahan should have to explain why she would not support a job-killing bill proposed by her party, and supported by “Big Oil.” I say “should” because she is nowhere to be found. Roy Blunt can be seen all over the state campaigning.

Read the rest of the article here.

Comment: We can point to the number of clowns in the US Senate that do not represent their state's interest and are elected because of big money, popularity and media support. Even if they do represent many of the state's interests like Robert Byrd of West Virginia the US Senate has actually become regional overseers ruling our states from a distant land, and in the case of others becoming mini-presidents becoming involved in the affairs of other nations.

By repealing the 17th Amendment we can send representatives to Washington to control Washington, and stop those in Washington from controlling us.