SeventeenAmendment,amendmentseventeen

Voter power or voter impact becomes one key issue in the debate for Repealing the Seventeenth Amendment. Those opposing repealing the Seventeenth argue it takes away the direct vote of “The People”. However, the author of "Just How Stupid Are We?" writes that one wholesale reform is..."to discuss the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment to allow state legislatures to choose the members of the U.S. Senate as they used to." ( pg 169)

Because all politics is local, the exact opposite is the reality. When U.S. Senators must represent their individual state, then every state voter’s ballot magnifies their personal choice. Every Senatorial election brings their senator into their cross-hairs, making that senator dependent on voter’s expectations.

A most recent poster child to use as an example is Arlen Specter, of PA. This man has changed his position more often than a porn star in an XXX movie. Specter initially campaigned for U.S. Senator of Pennsylvania as a moderate. After a term, he became a progressive voting for liberal legislation. Later, he switched from a Republican U.S. Senator to a Democrat U.S. Senator, with a vote by “The People” of PA. Finally, in 2010, he was voted out of office in the PA state primary race.

If “The people” of Pennsylvania owned their initial directed vote, upset citizens and voters could have marched on their state capitol. These disenchanted state voters could have petitioned, demonstrated to their states legislatures calling for Specter’s recall. Then, those local legislatures would have acted as the Massachusetts state legislatures responded by appointing their new Senator, U.S. Senator Scoot Brown.

A much stronger case resides with the voters casting their ballots for their U.S. Senator, who must listen to their needs. That Senator’s coat tail would be cut short for accepting bribes, kick-back or undue influence of special interest groups. Be beholding to local voters would open a real dialog into their Senator’s ear.

In his book, Just How Stupid Are We?
Facing the Truth About The American Voter
by Rick Shenkman, 2008, Basic books, NY, NY, the author discusses voter perception. Most of his research focuses on national elections and polls. His writing was completed BEFORE the present Obama administration.

On page 38, Shenkman notes...” that voters are rational” for two basic reason: ability to distinguish between problems; recognize celebrity status (leadership). Pg. 41, “Voters are also known to engage in what is called “strategic voting”, and he cites examples. Voter faults are cited on pg 4; the summary sentence being
“Again and again what the polls show is that Americans cannot make up for their lack of basic knowledge even if they shrewdly employ shortcuts.”

One final notation reinforces the powerful force coming from local elections, Pg 64.
“Let’s be frank. The People is a largely meaningless term as Americans use it. It does not fit any particular demographic profile. The People are poor, the middle class, and the young and the old. That is, they are everybody and therefore nobody in particular. Thus things stand today, and thus things have stood since the founding. James Madison conceded in private that there is no such thing as The People. America is a mass, no single group can claim to be representatives, and majorities shift constantly."

Among the proposals for reforming government, the media, political parties, etc,, Mr. Shenkman, also, recommends the REPEAL OF THE SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT. ( PG 169)

The bigger our federal bureaucracy grows, the greater the corruption.
Benefits for undoing five decades of federal power are:

Restore the original intent of U.S. Senators: an advisory board
Cut federal bureaucracy in the Senate and reduce committees, spilling into the Executive Branch.
Restore States guaranteed powers under Amendment Ten.
Give the voters a more direct and powerful voice in who their Senators shall be. ( At present, Senators disappear for six years, until next election cycle.)
Make Senators accountable to their State Legislators, who have the ability to recall them.
The people's disenchantment with their Senator would be aired locally! The distance for affirmative action is as close as the state capitol and its legislature. Senators would represent their state and the people's need within that state.
All politics is local! Prior to ratifying the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, citizens saw more of their Senators. They voted for their choice, and state legislatures appointed the popular choice.. The best know example is the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates; Lincoln lost to Douglas, who was appointed to the Senate by the Illinois State legislature.
More Money to the States: An important component that will prove beneficial to the several states is taxes! Each State needs money; better to keep monies at home than to send to the federal government in far away D.C. Allow the voters with in each state to elect officials who can best allocate tax revenues for their individual state
Money is the key factor in growth and it is the key motivator for the several states. Each State needs money, and they need it yesterday. The repeal of the 17^th, as a stand-alone Constitutional Amendment, gets them no money. But a combination where the states control tax money as well as their U.S. Senator necessitates the power and the programs returning to the states. Each States would become a capitalistic entity, competing with one another for business and people’s purchasing power. From a completive, capitalistic perspective, State would reduce their size and scope of their governments

Call for a Constitutional Convention to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment through state legislatures.

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