(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Utah Republicans try to remove the ability to vote for Senators, making the position appointed instead. Cite, as reasoning, decreasing support for Senator Hatch and, I quote, "We know more than voters do."

Comments

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Technically, they don't cite decreasing support for Hatch; but there's an underlying point to this. Namely, the 17th Amendment.

*shakes head* Some people.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I should have been clearer that the Hatch statement is me impugning their motives.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm all for repealing the 17th.

Give the Senate back to the states' legislatures. Congress was divided in half with direct and state representation by design and with a good purpose. The Fed. has been out of control since the Senate was no longer answerable to the states.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Wait, republicans are trying to mimic Canada now?

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

one one hand, i can support people who hate Hatch, on the other hand, have they considered maybe telling the voters all of this critical information?

[publius1.livejournal.com]

"The Fed. has been out of control since the Senate was no longer answerable to the states." post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Think you're postulating one event here as the cause of all the woes of the government; I seriously doubt direct representation of the Senate has had *that* serious of an impact. Think I'm gonna need some proof of this...

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Not all. The federal government wasn't some perfect innocent body before then, but all the shit that gets piled on the states by the fed, mostly with under- or un-funded, would never have come to pass if the states' legislatures still held the senate's leash.

[stormkami.livejournal.com]

And so it continues.

[publius1.livejournal.com]

That's just blatantly untrue. The House of Representatives is the Chez Pork; the Senate gets its place at the trough, as West Virginia and Senator Byrd could certainly tell you, but it's far easier to bury "earmarks" in House Appropriations legislation than it is in the Senate.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

If Robert Byrd had to stand in front of the WV legislature and justify having voted, much less proposed, that shit to keep his seat in the Senate, I suspect he'd have a whole different attitude towards spending, especially where it creates more costs for his state over time.