What is that? The 17th Amendment to our Constitution was voted upon and ratified in that magic year of 1913. 1913 is the year the Federal Reserve and the 16th Amendment were passed. The 16th, of course, is the income tax Amendment, which was never legally ratified, although the Supremes say it was.
To show you how dastardly a year 1913 was, the 17th Amendment in reality gave K Street in D.C. a reason for being. K Street is the area where all the thousands of lobbyists hang out and receive millions from the firms they represent. The 17th, reads as follows: “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 west of the Amendment is basically the same as is Article One, Section Three of the Constitution, which describes the Senate.
Article One, Section Three of the Constitution reads: “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.” The rest of both the 17th, and Article One, Section Three read about the same, giving details of qualifications and terms. Wording is a bit different, but the meaning is the same, except the way the Senators are elected.
The Founders decided that Senators should be appointed by and represent the individual states. Why is this important? Because if the state legislatures appointed the Senators, they wouldn’t be influenced by lobbyists to sway their votes on threat of non support in an election, or the reverse, which means that Senators wouldn’t have to raise thousands of dollars a day to run for re-election. Senators would, to make it short, be very independent, and not influenced by money raising necessity, illicit lobbyist influence, and threats of voter non-support if they voted one way or the other. The main reason, of course, was that the federal legislature would be represented by the states as well as the people. The 17th Amendment gave the representation 100% to the people, and the states were left out. Not fair? Not at all!
The 17th Amendment then, took all state representation out of the Congress. The Founders wanted the states to be represented as well as the people of the states. Since the 17th was passed, K Street has had a ball. The mess the 17th Amendment has created is simply not the way the Constitution intended. Now, the Senate is lobbied as well as the House, and the Founders never intended it to be that way.
There is a group that has as part of its agenda, the doing away of the 17th Amendment. www.icaucus.org is the outfit which has marvelous ideas, which of course will never come to pass, but I give them credit for their efforts. In order for the 17th Amendment to be discarded, who would have to approve? The Senate, and you can bet your last un-backed, printing press dollar that this will never happen, any more than the budget will ever be balanced. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could turn the clock back to 1912, and have a say as to what would be passed? The Federal Reserve, income tax (16th) and screwing with the Senate (17th) would not have been passed or ratified.
The Founders decided that Senators would be but two in number, regardless of a state’s population, and be elected by a state’s legislature, and not by the public voters. On the other hand, Representatives would be the less powerful body, be numbered according to a state’s population, be responsible for appropriating expenditures, be at least 25 years of age, as opposed to a Senator’s 30 years, and be elected for but two years, rather than for six, as are Senators. The Founders wanted the lesser body, the House of Representatives, to be responsible to the voters for their actions, and the more powerful Senators be responsible to the states for their votes and conduct, not to the people. Makes the utmost sense.
P.S. I think that you guys should do as much business with my kids David and Melissa as possible. I get really tired after 9 or 10 hours at my desk. I’m in fine health, but I brought my kids into this so I could take vacations, cruises, and enjoy life. 9 or10 hour days aren’t my idea of enjoyment. I’m only open 8 hours, you say? When am I supposed to write this column? Not during the 8 hours. Paperwork, bank deposits, etc? Not during the eight hours if the phone is ringing. Of course I love to talk to you out there, and run my mouth, but as of late, I have taken one of my two phones off the hook, so great has been the pressure.