On Repealing the 17th Amendment...

This blog will be short and sweet, I hope.  The message is certainly simple:  Repeal the 17th Amendment and return the States’ voice to our federal government.

When the 17th Amendment passed, it probably sounded like a great idea to have Senators elected by “we the people” in a direct vote.  When I first learned about the Amendment in school, I remember thinking that direct election was surely a more democratic method than being chosen indirectly (by the state legislatures).  And, surely, the more democratic the government, the better…right?  Not really.

First, we are not a democracy; we are a Republic.  The founding fathers had a good reason for that choice.  Democracies will invariably victimize the minority segments of their society.  We see it in the Middle East on a regular basis…and will even more so with the spread of Sharia law.  Under such systems, those of other minority religions are often harshly persecuted.  In a pure Democracy, if the majority decided that all brown-eyed babies must be slaughtered, then that would be the law.  As a Republic, however, we hold to various rights which cannot be abrogated by the rule of the majority.  Some of those rights are rights of individuals; some are rights held by the States.

Little did I realize (as that youngster) that removing this voice of the States would be so destructive of States’ rights and of our country.  Who is there to speak for the States in the federal government today?  No one!  Through conferencing, our Governors have tried to create an artificial voice, but there is no real power there.  The people already have a direct voice through the House of Representatives.  The Senate was designed to protect the States’ rights and give the States a voice in how our country works.

We need to repeal the 17th Amendment and restore the Senate to a body whose loyalties lie with the States that they represent, not with the special interest groups who fund their campaigns.