Educating All Parents To Ensure The Future Of Our Republic

17th Amendment Concerns

Do you ever feel like no one's really watching out for you and once you elect someone to political leadership, their only concern is to stay in power?

The Founding Fathers of our country were brilliantly inspired in setting up the constitution to ensure there was a proper check and balance between all functions of government. That way no one branch of government could gain undue power over our lives. However, something has spoiled that wonderful balance of power. People with hidden agendas of their own benefit have spoiled the system.

To boil it down, years ago, representatives from the several states argued and fought over what form of government we would have. The bigger states wanted more votes in the congress because they had more people than the smaller states. But the smaller states wanted a voice to represent their needs. The congress was divided into two chambers. The house, which gave representation by population, and the senate, which gave equal votes to all states.

The representatives in the house would be elected by the people as their elected delegates for two year terms to ensure if their actions got out of hand they could quickly be brought back home and let someone else represent the people.

The senators would be appointed by the several states to represent their needs and would fill a six year term. Senators would be held accountable by the state legislatures and report to them.

These two classes of official would be at odds representing the will of the people and the needs of the states at a federal level. If anything was to pass the congress (and it was designed to be difficult), the representatives and senators must work out laws that would serve both the people's advantage, as well as the state.

States have a vital role. They protect "we the people" from both the federal juggernaut as well as the local administration of law. As it was analogized to me by a Utah state senator one time, in twenty-four hours, a local government can meet and pass a law to take away your property, but the state functions like the federal government where a bill has to pass both houses of the state congress and then have the governor sign it. We have checks and balances at the state level, but not the local level. Thus state government protects us from both federal and local encroachment of our rights.

However, something has gone very wrong. The 17th amendment was pushed through which took power away from the states by making senators no longer allowed to be appointed by the states, but to be elected by the people the same as our representatives. Now we have two groups in congress that no longer fight amonst themselves (a benefit to working out the very best solutions), but two groups of people that must endear themselves to the electorate by bringing home the bacon every opportunity they get without looking for the common good of the nation or our several states. The quest for power and re-election is all consuming. The 17th amendment has destroyed the subtle balance the Founding Fathers gave us.

Some have researched the issue and say it was never properly ratified (see the WND article below). Whether or not it was is somewhat irrelevant at this point. What needs to be done is to have the balance restored. State Senator Howard Stevenson (R-Draper, Utah) has introduced a bill that will help move us toward that goal. State bill SR X will make our senators again become accountable to the state senate by making them report to the senate at least once a year instead of spending all their time in Washington. This will give the state the opportunity to ask them questions regarding their actions in representing us and move us a step closer to repealing the 17th amendment. If three-quarters of the states pick up this piece of legislation, it would be a good sign that there are enough votes to overturn the 17th amendment. Please contact your local state legislators and ask them to co-sponsor this bill to help protect our freedoms. If you live outside of Utah, please ask your state representatives to look into getting similar legislation for your state. Together we can help restore a balance to government.

Here's a starter article :

States Must Force 17th Amendment Showdown by Devvy Kidd

Utah's bill sponsored by Howard Stephenson and co-sponsored by about 20 others:

Utah S.B. 156 legislative bill (Then go to www.utah.gov and ask your senator and representative to support this bill)

Other Resources:

Repeal the 17th Amendment by John MacMullin, Phoenix, Arizona Attorney

Excellent Law Review stating the 17th Amendment has diminished the state's power held via the 10th Amendment by John MacMullin

Democratizing the Constitution: The Failure of the Seventeenth Amendment by C. H. Hoebeke

Evolving Democracy by Bruce Bartlett

 

spam email
Copyright 2005-14+, All Rights Reserved