Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Other side: Sally Kohn; The 17th Amendment is Good for America

Sally Kohn: The 17th Amendment is Good for America; LaDailyTimes.Com

A look at the other side.

There’s a movement afoot to repeal the 17th Amendment of the United States Constitution which allows for the two US Senators from each state to be “elected by the people thereof.” As proof that the Tea Party wants to infringe on your democracy and make it easier for elite corporate interests to control Washington, they want to take away our vote and allow state legislators to secretly appoint Senators through back-room deals.

So apart from the obvious contradictions of claiming to be a populist, patriotic movement while attacking the popular vote and the democratic traditions of our nation, why else is repealing the 17th Amendment a bad idea?

One of the central themes of the Tea Party is the idea of returning to and honoring our Founding Father’s intent. Glenn Beck, who hosts Founders’ Friday every week on his show, recently evoked James Madison — who Beck called a “little cutie pie” — to make the case for repealing the 17th Amendment and taking American back to 1776.

Before we get too misty eyed and nostalgic, let’s remember what America was like in 1776 — and why the 17th Amendment was such a vital addition down the road.

The vaunted leaders at the Constitutional convention were all very wealthy, very white men and included the largest slave owners in the colonies. None of the Founders were very pro-equality on the subject of race, but some were more opposed to slavery than others. In particular, the North was more opposed to slavery than was the South. And the North had more people. So the South was worried that, if the new nation were just based on the popular vote alone, it would have less power and slavery would be abolished. ...


Read the rest here.

Comment: This one of the re-occurring and empty arguments, limited government and decentralization will return us back to slavery and elitism. I say with the 16th Amendment we've all become slaves to the Federal Government because we spend the first half of the year working just to pay taxes, and what could be considered the most prominent "elitist club" than the US Senate.

I'll take my chances with limited government, freedom and liberty any day of the week. I have less to be afraid from myself than I do a government that is slowly turning this country into a police state.

Repeal the 17th Amendment and save the United States of America from the statists!

2 comments:

swiftfoxmark2 said...

Generally what these Leftist don't realize is that in every industry that is heavily regulated by the State, there is more room for corruption. Most regulations that are imposed by government stifle competition and end up creating the corporate giants that Leftists despise.

This argument is easily disputed by pointing out that the much hated special interest groups rose up after this amendment was passed.

Brian said...

swiftfoxmark2:

You are spot on. Zywicki make this point very clear.