- Joined
- Sep 3, 2011
- Messages
- 34,817
- Reaction score
- 18,576
- Location
- Look to your right... I'm that guy.
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Centrist
Should the choosing of Senators be taken from the people and given back to the states?
I cannot understand why people would want to give up the power to directly elect senators?
YES!.... we as a nation need to return to a mixed constitution of the founders, and a separation of power, between the people and the states, we need to move away from the evils of democracy of the last 100 years, and return to true republican government.
democracy is a very factious/special interest oriented and evil form of government which is why the founders hated it and created republican government which divides power and does not let everyone or group become to powerful.
federalist 47--The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny
e·lec·tive
[ih-lek-tiv] Show IPA
adjective
1.
pertaining to the principle of electing to an office, position, etc.
2.
chosen by election, as an official.
3.
bestowed by or derived from election, as an office.
4.
having the power or right of electing to office, as a body of persons.
No. There is no good reason to do so, and it would only further isolates people from having power.
it stops the federal government to exceeding it powers under the constitution, and and taking away state powers.
The original purpose of senators was to represent the STATE not the people. You already have a representative, why do you need another 2 where your power to remove or elect them is much further diluted hence they are not nearly accountable. Were as when the state elected them they were accountable to the legislative body of that state, and therefor even MORE accountable. The states no longer are represented directly as an entity as they were before. States have interests that differ from that of the populous at large hence why they need to be represented directly, as originally intended.
The original purpose of senators was to represent the STATE not the people. You already have a representative, why do you need another 2 where your power to remove or elect them is much further diluted hence they are not nearly accountable. Were as when the state elected them they were accountable to the legislative body of that state, and therefor even MORE accountable. The states no longer are represented directly as an entity as they were before. States have interests that differ from that of the populous at large hence why they need to be represented directly, as originally intended.
True, however the State as an entity is separate and has separate interests many of which deal with interworking's of government between themselves, something important to the state but of very little interest to most people.The STATE is the people. That is something that should never be forgotten.
Could the reason that the founders hated democracy was because it meant sharing power with the common people? It kind of gives the impression that the founding fathers were elitists.
Very true, however my original statement still stands.Yeah I think the states lost the right to elect senators when it hand picked cronys that would cater to the state party bosses. Tammany hall is a good example.
It does nothing to the federal government, and takes away the power of the people who live in the states, ie the ones the state governments are supposed to serve.
no that is not the reason, the founders did not have tv, radio or the internet, ...........but they read books.
Madison months before the constitutional convention wrote to jefferson and asked him to send me books on governments of the world.
Madison is Reading these books saw why governments fail, democracies are evil, so he sought to create a government where no one or few on many could have total power, ..."becuase absolute power corrupts absolute"
if you give 1 person total power he will be tyrannical ,its the same with a few, and if you give all total power to the all the people they will also be corrupt, becuase the majority will control the minority and the founders knew this.
so they created a mixed constitution- federalist 40, which separated power, the people have direct power in the house, and indirect power in the senate.
the senate is to be a voice of the states and their power under federalism.
our constitution gives us federalism, which separates power between states and the federal government, and limits the federal government to only 18 duties, and all other powers are state powers, today when government takes powers of a states away by creating new laws the states have no power to stop them.
however before the 17th ,every state had a say in government, the senate, and that power of the states limited the federal government, and prevented government from creasing state powers.
democracy... which america has moved towards in the last 100 years with the 17th is evil,
we as a people bitch and moan and complain our government is bought and paid for...yes it is!...why because democracy breeds faction or special interest, ...republican government of the founders limits faction /special interest so it cannot control our government or the people.
but people in america have never lived under true republican government because it ended with the 17th amendment and it needs to me stored, and our nations power needs to be returned to the people and the states.
How is removing the power to directly elect senators benefit the people?
Could the reason that the founders hated democracy was because it meant sharing power with the common people? It kind of gives the impression that the founding fathers were elitists.
Good point in paragraph 2.because it puts power back into the hands of state legislatures who are elected by the people.
with that state power, the federal government cannot mandate or create laws, which take away state powers in the first place, this keeps the federal government limited as the founders wanted.
this is why the u.s. constitution was created as a mixed constitution, to divide power between the people and the states....the house is for the people, and the senate is for the states, this way no one group has all the power and cannot become tyrannical and violate the constitution.
because it puts power back into the hands of state legislatures who are elected by the people.
with that state power, the federal government cannot mandate or create laws, which take away state powers in the first place, this keeps the federal government limited as the founders wanted.
this is why the u.s. constitution was created as a mixed constitution, to divide power between the people and the states....the house is for the people, and the senate is for the states, this way no one group has all the power and cannot become tyrannical and violate the constitution.
You are trying to undo 100 years of senators being elected by the people of state, not Some state party boss.