The 17th Amendment

Trey Grayson, once a Democrat turned to a right leaning conservative arguable a moderate is pretty much toast as far as the Republican primary goes. While I would have supported either Democrat (let's be honest there are 2 serious candidates) Trey wouldn't had been that bad although he still would have driven me up the wall no doubt, but he wasn't part of the group that Rand Paul is which wants to repeal the 17th Amendment, the direct election of our Federal senators.

When the country was founded it was each state's legislature that choose who would represent such state in the United States Senate. Problems began to arise with the system as early as the 1850's as legislatures weren't sending senators to Washington coupled with allegations of bribes and foulplay in their appointments. The catalyst came during the industrial boom starting in the 1870's after the American Civil War. Corruption was so widespread during the Guilded Age when President U.S. Grant used the phrase "now let us have peace" the running joke was those in government and industry heard "now let us have a piece". When running for his seat Illinois’ Senator, William Lorimer bought his seat when he bribed members of the Illinois state assembly.

Big surprise, the golden rule plays out again; those with the gold make the rules or in this case those with the gold buy a senate seat. It was in fact the Populist Party of the late 19th century that advocated the direct election of senators, coupled with the problems of the appointment holdups in the state legislatures enough senators were finally brought on board to make the United States more Democratic and less Republic with the adoption of the 17th Amendment allowing for the direct election of senators every 6 years.

Now there are those people (usually completely ignorant of history) who believe the 17th Amendment should in fact be repealed in an attempt to return "The United States" to the 19th century when it was known commonly as "These United States", they believe the Federal Government has grown far too large and minimized the states as actors. And yes it's true that special interest money plays on elections at a national level, and the recent supreme court decision which struck down the laws that limited the reach of corporate influence in our elections was a terrifying ruling with awful implications in our current system if it isn't minimized.

But to say the 17th Amendment should be repealed is to say that the American people as a whole need less influence on our government, not more. These people argue that populism and our national identity should be sacrificed in favor or returning the United States to what it resembled in the 19th century, a government run and owned by those with influence and money. There are those who say and believe such things, and I for one am not one of them.