|
The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1911 to allow U.S. senators to be directly elected by voters. Previously, they were selected by the state legislatures. However, I think this amendment has turned out to be a bad idea and should therefore be repealed as soon as possible. In the nearly 100 years since its inception, it has caused more harm than good.
Giving the people the right to select their own U.S. senators was supposed to be a positive change, but like many other things in life, it has produced unintended consequences. The U.S. Senate was created and envisioned by our Founding Fathers to be the deliberative body of Congress, in contrast to the House of Representatives, which tends to be more in tune with the whims of the electorate. But what the 17th Amendment did was to make the Senate a kind of small clone of the House, stripping it of much of its unique identity.
Senators used to act in a more thoughtful manner, without so much concern for public opinion. They felt more at liberty to do what was right, not necessarily what was popular. This mentality often counteracted the more hasty and publicly-influenced legislation of the House. Unfortunately, that's one of our governmental checks and balances that no longer seems to exist.
In addition, senators don't seem to have as much state identity as they used to, when they had to answer to their legislatures. Back then, a major part of any senator's agenda was to look out for the interests and issues of the state he represented. Today, though, they all seem to be so caught up in national issues (as many prepare for a future run for the presidency) that it's had to tell what senator is from what state.
Also, when they were picked by the legislatures, senators had no need to spend so much time raising money and maintaining large campaign war chests. Now, with the requirement to win state-wide elections and with the average state population hovering around six million, they can't seem to collect enough money. Therefore, just like members of the House, most of them start raising money for re-election as soon as they are elected (or re-elected). This takes away large chunks of their time that could be better spent on their official senatorial duties.
Perhaps the framers of our Constitution foresaw such problems and had attempted to nip them in the bud by not allowing for directly-elected senators. Once again, our rejection of their timeless wisdom has proven to be a mistake. Now it's high time we reject the 17th Amendment.
|
