Ivy League Poli-Sci Prof Oblivious To Repeal Reasons

Be careful what you wish for: Why the Tea Party should not want to repeal the 17th Amendment; By Wendy J. Schiller and Benjamin Xiong; The Hill

The Founders of this nation made changing the Constitution a hard thing to do -- on purpose. That has not stopped candidates and activists in the Tea Party from asking for a reexamination of the 17th amendment, which took the election of U.S. Senators out of the hands of state legislators and put it directly into the hands of the people. One of the “fathers” of the Tea Party movement, Congressman Ron Paul, has been at the head of the pack in favor of an outright repeal of the 17th Amendment. After the results of the recent election, however, it is unlikely that his son Rand Paul feels the same way. If the 17th Amendment was not in place, then Rand Paul would not have been elected to the United States Senate. In fact, a Democrat would most certainly be on his way to Washington instead.

Read the rest here.

Comment: The Ivy League authors miss the central point for repealing the 17th Amendment because they are trapped in the left verses right democrat verses republican paradigm. It's not about "winning" elections for the party, rather it's about restoring the checks and balances the founders incorporated within the structure of the federalist system of government; a federalist system that no longer exists because the states do not have representation within the federal government. It's about taking the power away from 100 men and women who do not represent the state they came from, but who have become agents for special interest. Agents who transfer our wealth taken unjustly through direct taxation and turn it over to special interest.

At the end of the day Ms. Schiller and Mr. Xiong I'm sure both Ron and Randell Paul would rather be caring for patients than fighting against big central government tyranny, just as I am sure George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would have been content managing their farms instead of battling an oppressive mercantile British tyrant. However, there are those within all societies that rise to a calling and put their position aside for the good their neighbor.

It's very good that we have people like Ron and Randell Paul who understand just as Washington and Jefferson did that excluding the states from the federal government is an evil (Federalist Number 59) and would mean the end of our nation. Let's pray that the academic community in this country does as well.

Comment 2: Check out the comments at the link with the actual post. A commenter makes the point that the comments were actually better than the article, which I heartily agree.