The Tenther Grapevine
The fall of constitutional government and the deterioration of state sovereignty can mostly be traced to the disastrous decision to change the election of US Senators from the states to the actual citizens in an effort to make the Constitution “more democratic” via the 17th amendment. Randall Holcombe of The Independent Institute highlights how this even plays into the modern day health care debate.
Federal Health Care Reform, Paid For By the States, and the 17th Amendment
The root of this particular problem goes back nearly a century, to the passage of the 17th amendment in 1913. Prior to the 17th amendment Senators were chosen by their state legislatures, and represented the interests of their state governments. Under that system, this cost-shifting could not have been remotely feasible, because the representatives of the state governments, in the Senate, would not possibly sign off on it. Now, with the popular election of senators, Congress is more able to pass the costs of its initiatives on to the states.
I’ll go a step further and argue that the cost-sharing arrangement in the original Medicaid program approved in 1965 could not have passed had Senators been chosen by their state governments rather than by popular vote.
Lots of people have criticized Senator Baucus’s health bill, and I’m one of them. Looking at the bigger picture, the issue I’ve raised also provides a nice illustration for why we should repeal the 17th amendment.
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Originally a senator was to be one of two ambassadors to the Capitol from his state. Being two in number allowed for the expression of opposing views in the Capitol from a state; so the diversity that existed on an issue would be recognize in the far-off Capitol if it were significant. Two senators from one state could still offset each other's vote and essentially come up with a "pass" on an issue.
Furthermore, this business of out of state support for candidates for the Senate would not have come about. The legislators would decide on one civic leader or another, and that would be the end of the discussion.
Meanwhile, the whole Senate retained the right to refuse to seat a disreputable selectee and send the issue back to the state for another try if necessary. There were plenty of checks and balances.
Of course a majority party leader in a state could railroad through his son in law if he wanted to; but he probably wouldn't have been seated unless eminently qualified in the first place.
We agree that the 17th Amendment must be repealed. That is part of our project at Take the State.
http://takethestate.ning.com
We also have a proposed 17th Amendment Pledge to review.
http://takethestate.ning.com/profiles/blogs/17th-amendment-pledge-proposed
The idea is similar to what is being done on your Tenth Amendment Center site. We want our members to get their elected state/local officials, and candidates for state and local office to sign the pledge and then post it on their sites and our site so voters can make an informed decision about which candidates truly respect individual rights and will work to restore federalism.
If you agree with these principles, and want to help, please join us.
http://takethestate.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp?
The 17th Amendment is at the root of our nation’s current spending / debt issues – not to mention the obvious growth in national government power. It’s as if we have learned nothing from the Framers of the constitution, and nothing from the long historical trail of failed democracies.
http://www.restorefederalism.org
I agree 100% that this amendment was a very bad idea. However, repealing it seems unlikely because of the ridiculous yet popular misconception that directly elected Senators are somehow more accountable. This is the same mistake made by those who call for abolition of the electoral college. Bottom line, the 16th through the 18th Amendments were rough times for freedom.