The Senate: Chamber of Shame

Real Clear Politics ^ | July 11, 2007 | Tony Blankley

[gpapa]

The Senate is emitting an embarrassing level of emotional policy twitching on the topic of Iraq. Sen. Harry Reid can't take the war anymore. He "knows" it is lost. Sen. Olympia Snowe has just about had it with the Iraqi government. If they don't meet her benchmarks -- that's it. Sen. Mitch McConnell thinks "that the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall, and I expect the president to lead it." Who authored that wall graffiti, he doesn't say. After talking with grieving family members of one of our fallen warriors, Sen. Pete Domenici "wants a new strategy for Iraq."

[srmorton]

Great article! Thanks for posting.

[pankot]

The Senate was the biggest mistake the Founders made. It was modeled after the English “House of Lords”—and that’s just what these @—holes think they are: Royalty that has to answer to no one but themselves and their wallets.

[stephenjohnbanker]

BUMP!

[Bullish]

Very good piece by Blankley. I hope everyone reads the entire article.

[slowhandluke]

The Senate was the biggest mistake the Founders made. It was modeled after the English “House of Lords”—and that’s just what these @—holes think they are: Royalty that has to answer to no one but themselves and their wallets.

I agree with your assessment of the current Senate, but would remind you that it is no longer the Senate as it was created by the Founders. There was that silly amendment about direct elections of the Senators that sent it off the rails.

[FlyVet]

Not a one of these "distinguished" "Senators" are real. They are either whored to Leftist anti-war money, or they cower at the thought of losing their precious seat with all its power and perks.

They still haven't figured out why their rating is the lowest of the low.

[Calpernia]

Hey Reid, if you don’t stand behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them.

[Calpernia]

>>>>The Senate was the biggest mistake the Founders made. It was modeled after the English “House of Lords”

Or the Soviet Duma.

[gorush]

The Senate is the fault of the electorate. It (we) have lost sight of the true meaning of our own Constitution, but that is the nature of Democracies...socialism will triumph until the whole system dies, it has ever been thus.

[mazza]

And it is a tragedy and disgrace that we are, in fact, having precisely such a conversation today. indeed

[Biblebelter]

The Senate is a rathole of treachery for a lot reasons not just because of Iraq. But Joe Liberman did get it right, when he noted that our enemy in Iraq is Iran. Confrontation with Iran cannot be ignored and is only a matter of time, despite whatever America haters like Dingy Harry think.

[okie01]

The Senate was the biggest mistake the Founders made.

The mistake you refer to was not the Founders'.

Instead, the fault lies with the Progressives who sought to "improve the Constitution" by providing for direct election of Senators via the 17th Amendment.

Before 1912, Senators were accountable to the state legislatures. Now, for five years out of every six, they are accountable to no one. Then, on the sixth, they pander...

[paul51]

The Senate: Chamber of Shame

Unfortunately these people have no shame

[srmorton]

As far as NC goes, the current method of choosing Senators is better because NC has two Republican Senators at present. In national elections, our state is reliably Republican, but our state government is in the hands of the Democrats, even though some of their corruption is finally being exposed. If the good ole boy Democrats in the legislature were in charge of picking our Senators, they would have been solidly Democrat for the last 100 years. It does seem more fair and more representative to allow the people to vote on them. The problem seems to be the character of those who end up being elected and the rules of the Senate that prevent much from being accomplished (which is sometimes a blessing).

[CyberAnt]

You would be exactly correct.

And .. wasn’t it originally set up that these “senators” would be appointed by the governors of each state - and those same senators would lose their status when that governor left office ..??

Therefore, with each new governor, new senators with fresh ideas would be appointed by the governors. And .. at least we wouldn’t have people like Biden STUCK THERE FOR 34 YEARS.

[CyberAnt]

You are correct, it was well worth the read!

Tony gets it!!

[okie01]

I understand your point about direct elections perhaps being more representative of the electorate.

There is another part of the equation, however. The severe erosion of the 10th amendment and states' rights vs federal mandates essentially traces to this decision. Once Senators became beholden to the federal establishment, rather than their state legislatures, the influence of the states has declined proportionately.

Which is to say that, even if a Democrat legislature had been appointing NCs senators for the past 95 years, the state of North Carolina and its citizens would almost certainly enjoy greater sovereignty.