Research bump
Later
Later
TIMES UP!
We're into the "Praetorian Guard" phase of the decline and fall of America that Thomas Jefferson predicted 200 yrs ago.
When all government ...in little as in great things... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power; it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1821
Federalism was severely damaged when we adopted this retarded amendment. The commies rejoiced with the overwhelming shift to centralized power. It is the single worst development to the original structure of our Republic and needs to be repealed. Shame on our educational systems for not teaching so.
Washington DC was never intended to be that which it has become today. It is the greatest liability to the States
Bump
The restoration of the Constitution will bring us back to our roots.
Can we get rid of the 16th too, while we are at it?
Considering how corrupt many state legislatures are I don’t see how repealing the 17th Amendment would make much difference at this point. It might be better to focus on goals that are actually attainable and would make a difference to America, such as using the good economy to pay down the $23 trillion deficit.
As I recall, one argument for the 17th was that some/many Senators were bought and paid for by special interests bribing key members of state legislatures and that ‘bribing’ a whole state’s electorate would be financially impossible. And of course it would be much more ‘democratic’.
I think that history has shown the first argument to be false—by dumping lots of money into an election Senators are still bought and paid for. What it did do, of course is change the very structure of American Federalism. Senators were originally in place to represent state governments, not the people. That’s why Senators get to vote on treaties. And it is why states are equally represented in the Senate—a feature that leftists still decry.
I have believed from the moment I understood the constitution that the 17th amendment destroyed the Republic as envisioned by our founders. The states no longer had any direct voice in at the federal level, and senators elected by the public were fully beholden to their parties and would happily vote for things that were destructive to their constituents and states.
Unfunded mandates would not exist in a world where State Legislatures elected Senators, for example.
The House is for the people, the Senate is for the States.... The 17th Amendment completely removed the States from the table at the Federal Level.