Thank you for posting blueunicorn6.
The state representatives to the Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) wisely gave ordinary voters, people like you and me, the express constitutional power to vote only for House members, not for senators or president.
The main reason that ordinary citizens got the power to vote for representatives is because the delegates to the Con-Con gave the power to originate bills for raising revenue (taxes) uniquely to the House (1.7.1). So when citizens didn’t like the federal taxes that they were paying they could fix the problem by voting tax-crazy representatives out of office.
Military issues aside, another reason that ordinary citizens could only vote for representatives is because the Con-Con delegates basically limited the federal government’s enumerated peacetime powers to dictate domestic policy to running the US Mail Service (1.8.7).
"Article I, Section 8, Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
In other words, the founders had intended for citizens to work with state lawmakers, not federal lawmakers, to tax and spend for the social spending services that the citizen voters of a given state want.
In fact, the congressional records shows that Rep. John Bingham, a constitutional lawmakers, had clarified that the founders had left the care of the people uniquely to the states, not the federal government.
”[…] the care of the property, the liberty, and the life of the citizen, under the solemn sanction of an oath imposed by your Federal Constitution, is in the States, and not in the Federal Government [emphases added].” —Rep. John Bingham, Congressional Globe, 1866. (See about middle of 3rd column.)
The reason that ordinary citizens now vote for senators is because the anti-constitutional republic Progressive Movement spooked ordinary citizens to twist the arms of their state lawmakers to ratify the ill-conceived, mob rule 17th Amendment. State lawmakers caved and ratified that amendment, foolishly giving up the voices of the state legislatures in Congress.
The problem with citizen’s having the express constitutional power to vote for senators is this. The founders had established the Senate partly to kill unconstitutional house bills, bill that not only steal state powers, but also steal state revenues uniquely associated with those powers, revenues that Congress cannot justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
However, when senate candidates who don’t know the federal government’s constitutionally limited powers any better than the voters do, promise low-information voters anything not related to the mail services to try to get themselves elected, such voters unthinkingly elect unqualified senators who then unconstitutionally expand the federal government’s powers when they keep their promises (ahem) to voters.
In other words, when low-information voters elect a senator who promises them federal healthcare services, Obamacare for example, such voters are clueless that they are abusing their 17A power by electing a senator who is going to help unconstitutionally expand the already unconstitutionally big federal government powers to provide constitutionally indefensible federal healthcare services.
"State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added]." -Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
And when the federal government steals state revenues to provide healthcare services, the states can’t afford to provide healthcare services under their 10th Amendment powers.
"10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Finally, the states have never expressly constitutionally given ordinary voters the specific power to vote for president. In other words, so-called citizen power to vote for president is actually politically correct power under the states, the corrupt political parties keeping voters happy by giving them the false impression that they are in control of the Oval Office, but ultimately the mail service.
The bottom line is that patriots need to work with their state lawmakers to support PDJT in working with Congress to not only surrender state powers that the feds have been stealing for the last 100+ years back to the states, but also to put a stop to unconstitutional federal taxes.
Once unconstitutional federal taxes are stopped then each state will ultimately find a tsunami of new revenues imo to provide its respective citizens with the "government" social spending service that the feds had formerly been unconstitutionally providing.
And to make such changes permanent, patriots need to further support PDJT in leading the states to repeal 17A. The 16th Amendment can disappear too.
I agree with you about the 17th Amendment.
I was not writing a history of voting in The US.
I was writing about how wrong it is to cheat in the Presidential election.
You have a very nice post.
Five people will read it and two of those will understand it.