Friday, April 30, 2010
The 17th amendment
As I was going through the Constitution for my daughters history class I was explaining to her why checks and balances exists and why the different amendments were past when we came upon the 17th amendment and I thought to my self why is this one important? why didn't the founders put that in the original Constitution? I started Hunting around an found that the big push for having the senate selected by the state government instead of elected by the voters was done by Alexander Hamilton. The reason for this was that he wanted to be able to set up a part of government that wasn't subject to the whims of the masses Thus Creating two distinct Bodies. One being elected by the general people and was subject to Change every 4 years (the House of Representatives) In which all bills that have financial repercussions had to start in. The other being selected by your state government (much like the prime minsters in England) this Ruling class would serve 6 years. with the Idea that they were there to PROTECT THE STATES RIGHTS and keep a check on the Federal governments power. They knew from history that Masses can be swayed and Bribed into giving away their freedom for the so called Bread and Circus of the Roman era, As Hamilton stated the Senate is appointed as a natural check and balance to prevent the pooling of power at the Federal level. Then they went as far as Adding the 10th amendment to protect the rights.(The Selected senate is the acting mechanism to keep the federal government in check, like cars driving towards you passing you on your left keeps you driving to the right of the road, and the 10th amendment is like the law that states all cars shall drive on the right side of the road) well how do you get rid of such a check and balance with out repealing one of the Bill of rights that had to be apart of the constitution before it was adopted???? Easy make a law that every road is now a one way street!!!!!! In walks the 17th amendment..... You still have states rights (just like you "still drive on the right side of the road" in my example, there just isn't any one to stop people from driving on the Left any more) just like There is no one to stop The federal power grab from the states anymore. so, slowly over time the power has been pooled at the federal level and the bread has been handed out more and more, and government has become a dog and pony show (much like the Left lane drivers of the south who seem to be ok with driving in the passing lane 10 miles under the speed limit!! sorry) so that is why I am fully convinced that if The 17th amendment is not repealed the republic will be lost, NO MATTER WHO'S IN POWER
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Well to restore the check that the state Goverment had on the spending power of the federal goverment. That and the 16th amendment which was worse. (federal reserve, federal income tax) All in 1913 and you can toss in there the United States v. Butler case of 1935. All have allowed a massive expansion of "federal" power(after we allowed the population to be taxed directly we went from a federal system to a national system of funding) but lets focus on the 17th. It follows the principle of don't take down a fence unless you know why it was put up. A great book that goes into where the founders got the ideas that formed our Goverment is "5000 year leap". Let me try to do history some justice , you see the revolutionary war was first against the English aristocracy king George was added after he sided with them. So the only thing that the founders feared worse than an out of control aristocracy was a straight democracy they considered it mob rule with the average age being only around 100 years, as soon as people realize they can vote themselves money from the public treasury they always implode under there own weight. And from there always arises a dictator. With this Delma they crafted Cicero's dream of three governments as one with the speed of a monarch in a president, the voice of the masses in the house of reps ( who always wanted things) and a voice for the wealthy or the American aristocracy in the senate ( to hold the purse strings, because they always pay the bills) The first thing to change was the house your rep was intended to be a local person, the ratio was like 1:10000 Which met that it was always a local leader with the people's interest at heart. due to the population growing the ratio of reps had to change as a result the people were less represented. In walks super packs, special interest groups, an the ability to buy elections on name recognition alone. ( the funny thing is now we vote on reality tv and coke commercials with more than a 1:10000 vote to population... Why can't they have satellite offices that are local?). Any ways ... Oh ya the American aristocracy an the 17th amendment. The first point is that Tomas Jefferson called it ameritocracy ( I think that's how you spell it) you rise in society based on what you do not on who you are . Even so knowing that the tendency is for people to get to the top and then kick over the ladder they formed a nice place for them to stay , the senate no term limits never have to run for a popular vote, you had to do only one thing and that was to represent you state Goverment and get the most favorable out come for them. And if at any time it was deemed that you were not doing your job you could be recalled and replaced at any time. What that did was pit state ambition against state ambition. ( the funny thing is that when teddy started the progressive party one of the planks was what would become 17th amendment the propaganda that was used was to break up the millionaires club and they don't represent the common man . I guess it was working pretty good) now not only do you have the same mess as I described with the house but because power unchecked always coagulates You have two aristocracies fighting for power over an unchecked Federal government. Now if there was only a way that they could spend money with out raising taxes????? But that's a new rabbit For a new day ..another great book is 1913 by Oliver demille
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