“I like the solution from the 1780’s. Try The CONSTITUTION!”
Me too. But the 17th amendment torpedoed two ‘anti-power’ branches of the government at the same time.
— The senate now represents ‘central power’, and they confirm the judiciary which now also dances to the tune of central power.
And when will voters give up their right to vote for senators?
One approach towards that would be to make senators running mates of governors. You run for governor, you name the senator nominee to be your running mate, to a four year term renewable if you as governor do not want to assume the senate seat after four years. Thus, the governor - if he appears in Washington - would be accorded the respect a Senator now gets, because he has a four year senate term in his back pocket.The senator is still elected, but the governor is also responsible for the senator - so if the governor has a problem with unfunded mandates blowing up his budget and/or “forcing” him to raise taxes, the people’s response would be, "your guy in the senate voted for that mandate, you are the cause of this mess.”
The point is to prevent the separation of responsibility from authority. Grubercrats are all about grabbing authority by the armload - but responsibility? - "it’s Bush’s fault.”
Good points.