Posted on 09/29/2023 8:10:05 AM PDT by cotton1706
Now, vacancies have to be filled, but the Establishment just LOVES appointments.
They get an instant incumbent who was not subject to election by the people, then they can put all their power and influence behind the new incumbent to get them subsequently elected and reelected.
It's a nice way to get around the people.
Current Senators that began as appointments are:
Lisa Murkowski - Alaska - 2002 (replaced Frank Murkowski, her father, who was elected governor, then appointed his daughter)
Tim Scott - South Carolina - 2013 (replaced Jim DeMint, who became head of some conservative think tank)
Jose Padilla - California - 2021 (replaced Kamala Harris, who became VP)
Pete Ricketts - Nebraska - 2023 (replaced Ben Sasse, who became some college president)
John Barrasso - Wyoming - 2007 (replaced deceased Craig Thomas)
Bob Menendez - New Jersey - 2006 (replaced John Corzine, elected governor)
Kirstin Gillebrand - New York - 2009 - (replaced Hillary Clinton, appointed to Secretary of State)
Cindi Hyde Smith - Mississippi - 2018 (replaced Thad Cochran, who McConnell convinced to keep running, to prevent a conservative taking the seat)
Roger Wicker - Mississippi - 2007 (replaced Trent Lott who resigned to be a lobbyist)
Tina Smith - Minnesota - 2017 (replaced disgraced Al Franken)
Expected appointment - California - 2023 (replacing deceased Dianne Feinstein)
Eliminate the seniority system and limit them to one term.
They may get a chance to replace Bob Menendez as well.
Quite ironically, in many cases we’ve completely defeated the purpose of the 17th Amendment
The Senate was meant to be removed from direct democracy, to allow it to be free from the passions of the mob. The Constitution state that Senators were meant to be chosen by state legislators.
Now in many cases they are simply chose by one person - the governor!
Senators used to be appointed to the US Senate by the elected governor of each state. That was in the original constitution. The 17th amendment changed that to direct elections by the public. A very bad move toward a central government.
As goes the governor, goes the senators. I prefer that power be returned to the state executive.
Yeah, that's what they used to say in "Civics" class. It's only partially true. The more important reason was that the Senators, appointed by the legislatures of the several States and beholden to them, were intended to be the States' "check and balance" against the Federal Government usurping the powers reserved to the States.
It is not difficult to fact check yourself before posting.
Article 1, Section 3
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
- Original U.S. Constitution
Source: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/
“Senators used to be appointed to the US Senate by the elected governor of each state. That was in the original constitution.”
Well, they were appointed by the legislature.
That is, the people indirectly chose their Senator. They elected their representatives, who in turn, elected the US Senator.
Governor appointments happened after the 17th amendment, to temporarily fill a vacancy until a regular election occurred.
Technically accurate, yes. Thank you. But the way it worked out was that the governor popular enough to be elected, most routinely got his senate picks by his state legislature as so requested. It was a rare circumstance that the state legislatures would defer the wishes of their governor.
That’s because voters are lazy and don’t pay atrention
Yes but it isn’t how their chosen that is important. It is who they are accountable to that matters.
Senators were supposed to be accountable to and therefor represent the interests of their STATE.
The beauty of the Constitution is how it tried to pit three entities against one another....
Executive/Judicial/Legislature
The individual/State/Federal
...knowing that if one interest became too powerful, it could be overridden by the other two.
The ugliness of the Constitution is how it failed to put in sufficient protections to maintain itself.
It is now a useless, dead document that will only be used to hamstring it’s proponents and defenders by those who have no respect for it at all.
Depends on who they appoint.
Appoint someone capable of winning and it works.
Appoint a Fetterman and it doesn’t!
That’s because of the stupid “incumbent” thing. Voters are so afraid they’ll elect a bigger crook than the politician that is already in office.
Yep. The 17th amendment destroyed state rights. It was the only item that gave the state legislatures the voice needed in the senate. Thanks a lot Wilson.
I certainly hope Newsom appoints Barbara Lee to the seat over Adam Schiff. You folks can scoff at the idea but Schiff having a higher profile would be nerve wracking on a much higher scale. The good news is that the republican voter could take him out in ‘24 by voting for the lesser of 2 evils. That lesser evil would be another democrat, most likely Lee. Barbara Lee is 76 years old, good for one term not 2-3 like Schiff.
Hindsight is 20-20. Say what you want but Barbara Lee’s lone vote against the Iraq war is a Profile in Courage.
That’s why Schiff ain’t going away. Schiff can be easily controlled. Lee is a wild card and “uppity” to the powers that be even though she is just as radical as Schiff.
It was actually a clusterbleep, if we want to be completely truthful about the history. The reason the 17th Amendment got passed was because the Legislatures were often deadlocked, not in session, or too filled with infighting and corruption to fill vacancies.
Again, not hard to fact check...
Appointed, what r u talking about
“Appointed, what r u talking about”
They first entered the Senate as an appointment by the governor, rather than through election. Due to resignation or death of the incumbent senator.
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