Repeal the 17^th Amendment to the constitution 

In my last Blog, I expressed concern with how we get our elected representatives in Washington DC to represent the people they should be representing and not the corporations, unions, and special interest groups that fund their election campaigns.  I mentioned earmark reform and campaign spending reform, but there may be another way to get our US Senators to actually represent the best interests of their State.

As I learn more about our political history, I am amazed at the intelligence and foresight of our founding fathers.  The foresight shown in forming this Republic with the three branches of government is almost hard to comprehend. 

They thought of almost every contingency.  They got it right.  The Constitution works great, if we don’t screw it up.

President John F. Kennedy hosted a White House dinner that was attended by every living American Nobel Laureate.  President Kennedy said, “ There has never been a greater concentration of intellectual power here at the White House since Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”  There was a lot of truth in that statement.

Our Constitution said, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.”

This system worked great for the first 126 years.  The House of Representatives was elected by popular vote of the people from the state they represented.   The Senate was appointed by the Legislature of their State.  It was a great check and balance. 

This was changed with the 17^th Amendment, which said, ”The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.”

This sounds like a good deal, or does it?  What could be wrong with the people electing their US Senators? 

What happens when Senators are elected by popular vote is that money and influence from outside the state play a large role in who gets elected as Senator.  The Senator now is obligate to these special interests from outside the state, and no longer puts the interests of the people from the State first. 

When a Senator is chosen or appointed by the State Legislature, that Senator will work in the best interests of the state.  The State Legislature should be well qualified to choose a US Senator.  They should be aware of the relevant issues facing the state. 

Campaigning for a US Senate seat now totally changes.  The State Legislature will probably not be as influenced by negative or untrue ads.  There would be less need to even run these ads, so we in effect have campaign reform. 

Campaign spending reform and US Senators that actually work in the best interests of the State they represent all by repealing the 17^th amendment.  Sounds good to me. 

It is amazing how smart our founding fathers were.  Too bad we keep trying to screw things up.