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. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
Senator Joseph L. Bristow submitted the 17th Amendment.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Now what could possibly be wrong with such a “democratic” reform? Quite a lot, really:
The founders created the Senate to be the legislative body that represented the states, while the House of Representatives represented the people. These two bodies were designed to provide checks and balances between the legislative branch and the executive branch while also providing checks and balances between the federal government and the states.
The same progressive philosophy that prevailed during the Wilson era, that produced the Income Tax Amendment and the Federal Reserve, also produced the 17th Amendment in 1913. This Amendment took from the state legislatures the right to choose their two Senators, and let the people of the state choose their Senators in a state-wide election.
What’s wrong with the people choosing their own Senators? For starters, this amendment strips power from the states, which ultimately strengthens the federal government. This Amendment removes an important check and balance between the federal government and the states. This Amendment completely removes the states from participation in the:
1. approval of federal legislation;
2. approval of executive appointments for cabinet positions and federal judges;
3. ratification of international treaties; and
4. judgment in all matters of impeachment.
Moreover, state-wide election of Senators seriously reduces the accountability Senators have to their constituents. Representatives are accountable to the people in their District; Senators have a much larger pool of voters to woo, and can afford to offend far more people than can Representatives. And they do!
Because the 17th Amendment was adopted, the federal government has lost all respect for the wishes of the states. Unfunded mandates would never have occurred had the 17th Amendment never been adopted.
As Henry Lamb affirms, this federal power grab was the brain child of the disastrous Progressive Movement:
For more than a century, this original design provided a balance that allowed the nation to grow and prosper as had no other nation in history. The power of the states to veto initiatives from the executive branch became a major irritant to the rapidly growing Progressive movement, which proclaimed that government should be far more involved in the affairs of its people than the Constitution allowed.
Media mogul William Randolph Hurst pushed hard for the 17th Amendment.
Consequently, the Progressive movement championed the 17th Amendment. When it was ratified, state governments were completely removed from any representation in the federal government.
Since the day the 17th Amendment was ratified, the federal government has continued to expand its budget, its size, and its power — unchecked by the balancing power of the state governments that the founders built into the system.
. . . . Check the campaign contributions to any Senator who has been in office more than one term, to see the amount of money given by out-of-state interests. The more powerful the Senator, the more out-of-state money is likely to be received.
A Senate elected by state legislators would be a monumental improvement. Anyone who disagrees with this assessment puts himself in the position of claiming a higher wisdom than George Washington, James Madison, Ben Franklin, and the rest of the founders. Only the most arrogant politicians would dare make such a claim.
Progressives — the personification of arrogance — can’t leave well enough alone. Thanks to them, a smoothly-running machine — our constitutional republic — has been knocked off kilter. It took just under a century for the torque to work loose the anchor bolts, but at long last the results of those “reforms” way back then are now on the verge of causing things to fly apart.
