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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGeorgia Legislators Propose Ending Direct Election of Senators (repeal 17th amendment)
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/georgia-proposes-ending-election-senators(snip)
Actually, according to Georgia state Rep. Buzz Brockaway, the biggest problem with the Senate is that it's democratically elected. Brockaway, a Republican, has introduced a bill in the state legislature to repeal the 17th Amendment, which provides for the direct election of senators, and instead restore the responsibility of choosing members to state legislatures (as was the process until 1913).
(state legislatures that for the most part will be Republican controlled because of gerrymandering)
The bill, HR 273, laments that "the Seventeenth Amendment has resulted in a large federal government with power and control that cannot be checked by the states," and suggests that "the original purpose of the United States Senate was to protect the sovereignty of the states from the federal government and to give each individual state government representation in the federal legislative branch of government."
If the bill passed, Georgia would be the first state to endorse repealing the 17th Amendment, but the idea has gained traction among conservatives over the last few decades. Texas Gov. Rick Perry supports it; so do GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Flake of Arizona. (Republican Indiana Sen. candidate Richard Mourdock endorsed the idea during his campaign last year, before, in an ironic twist, losing the popular vote.) As Salon's Alex Seitz-Wald noted in 2012, conservatives blame the 17th Amendment for trampling over the rights of states by changing the constituency to which senators are accountable.
Of course, introducing a bill is the easy part. Getting voters to agree to give up their right to vote will probably be a tough sell.
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Georgia Legislators Propose Ending Direct Election of Senators (repeal 17th amendment) (Original Post)
deminks
Feb 2013
OP
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)1. maybe they should start looking at getting rid of the executive branch and make this country
a parliamentary democracy
I'd be in favor of that
wandy
(3,539 posts)2. Great idea! It would save the Koch brothers big money......
No need for expensive political campaigns. They could buy their senators directly from their state 'representatives'.
It would greatly streamline the process by cutting out middlemen, sometimes called voters.
As an additional benefit, voter fraud would be reduced thus saving operational funds for Jim Crow's office.
More importantly it addresses one of GOP co.'s larger problems as pointed out in the OP.
Getting voters to agree to give up their right to vote will probably be a tough sell.
Just in case.
DBoon
(22,367 posts)3. This is exactly why the 17th amendment was passed in the first place
Railroads were buying state legislatures, and hence senators
ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)4. repealing the 17th Amendment would return us
to the original intent of the bicameral Congress. but no one knows or cares about that...they'll just hear their rights are being taken from them...
sP