[Wiser now]

The founding fathers did indeed set things up for the congressman to choose the senators. That might have been a good idea then, today, I don't think so.

[Bikers4Bush]

The founding fathers set it up right. The 17th should be repealed.

[Protagoras]

That might have been a good idea then, today, I don't think so.

Why?

[Blood of Tyrants]

What are you talking about? The popular election of senators has done nothing but create a second House of Representatives. The original system was designed to make one of the legislative houses immune to the whims of the general public.

[aspiring.hillbilly]

Hey clueless, it was the state governments who chose the Senators, NOT Congressmen in the Constitution as written, and its still a great idea, states have now no representation in the fed gov and that why the fed gov has run roughshod over the states rights for the last 90 years...to the detriment of the citizens of the several states.. This are the foul deeds of the demigog woodrow wilson, along with the federal reserve and the income tax...

[HenryLeeII]

The founding fathers did indeed set things up for the congressman to choose the senators. That might have been a good idea then, today, I don't think so.

I'm assuming you are referring to U.S. representatives when you say 'congressman' since senators are technically congressmen, also.

It was the state legislatures who chose senators (until the 17th Amendment was enacted), not U.S. representatives, since the Senate was designed to represent the interests of the states, which created the federal government and endowed it with certain limited, specifically-stated powers. The Tenth Amendment was added in order to insure that the states retained their powers and had the option of leaving if a tyrannical situation was created in the future.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

The founding fathers did indeed set things up for the congressman to choose the senators. That might have been a good idea then, today, I don't think so.

Congressmen never picked the Senators. Each States legislature decided who the Senators from their State would be.

This makes sense even today. The Federal Government would be represented by the individual people (The House of Representatives), the individual State Governments (The Senate), and the nation as a whole (The President).

The House was given the pursestrings, the Senate was the watchdog over the Executive branch, and the President had control over the nomination of judges.

Now the Senate no longer acts as a watchdog over the Executive branch, it acts as the Senior House of Representatives.

The 17th Amendment needs to be repealed to bring the checks and balances back in order.

[CIB-173RDABN]

I don't think so.

---

Perhaps you should look into the reasons the founding fathers had for doing it this way.

The House was to represent the citizens, the Senate was to represent the states.

We may still have gone down this road of Federalism even with states controlling the Senate, but I don't think so.

Now you have both the house and the Senate trying to buy votes with my tax dollars.