States can't be trusted to take care of minorities. Only the federal government cares about them.
After all, look how much better off they are now than they were when the Civil Rights Act was passed.
agree
Completely agree - need to repeal the 17th.
Bump!
Yep.
That plus the 19th screwed us forever.
Living in MA I’m going to have to think about this a bit more.
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Link seems to be broken - Article here:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/amy-furr/law-prof-17th-amendment-altered-constitutional-system-checks-balances
States can't be trusted to take care of minorities. Only the federal government cares about them.
After all, look how much better off they are now than they were when the Civil Rights Act was passed.
He’s exactly right.
But over time, I have come to believe that we would likely end up with many of the same problems, and the same Senators regardless of whether they were chosen by the legislatures or the voters.
Our real, underlying problem is the grip of the political parties. Though Trump's victory is a major win against party power, and may lead to some changes.
Not news.
Glad this guy finally figured it out. Now if the rest of academia could figure it out...
bttt
Correct. 17th Amendment should be repealed. ALL of the “Progressive Era” (1900-1920) amendments should be repealed. So far only #18 is gone.
100% correct it disenfranchises states.
Is that really true? Or was it just that people didn't want that much legislation before Wilson and the Roosevelts came along? Cleveland and Harrison didn't want to do much legislation-wise, and voters didn't want Congress to do that much either.
Twenty years later, voters and the people they elected were in a very different mood. One of the things they wanted was popular election of Senators, but if they hadn't gotten it, wouldn't they have gotten their way through the old system, as they did under the new?
If the Senate hadn't become popularly elected, another amendment probably would have reduced its powers, since bodies that weren't popularly elected tended to be regarded as not fully legitimate in the 20th century. When we were passing the 17th Amendment, Britain was restricting the powers of their unelected House of Lords. Something similar could have happened here.
And if we go back to the old way and let state legislators choose their US Senators, the power of the Senate would probably be reduced. Countries that do allow bodies that aren't popularly elected to have a say in legislation usually make it clear that those bodies are second class in comparison to the popularly elected house.
Duh
Absolutely!
The 19th amendment made it easier for legislation to be passed. Hugely.
It also deprived the states which did not ratify it of their equal suffrage in the Senate, in direct violation of Article V, which forbade amendments that did that.