Six Georgia Lawmakers Want To Take Away Voters’ Ability To Elect Their Own Senators

[TruthOut10]

The Seventeenth Amendment, which guarantees that voters will elect their own U.S. senators — rather than having those senators chosen for them by the state legislature — is strangely unpopular in Tea Party circles. Both Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) believe their own elections to the United States Senate should be unconstitutional. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) called empowering voters to elect senators a mistake, and even Justice Antonin Scalia lamented the “decline of so-called states’ rights throughout the rest of the 20th century” as a result of the Seventeenth Amendment.
Earlier this month, six Georgia state lawmakers, Reps. Dustin Hightower (R), Mike Dudgeon (R), Buzz Brockway (R), Josh Clark (R), Kevin Cooke (R) and Delvis Dutton (R) decided to get in on this action, introducing a resolution calling for the Seventeenth Amendment to be repealed:

Six Georgia Lawmakers Want To Take Away Voters' Ability To Elect Their Own Senators | ThinkProgress

 

[martybegan]

The Seventeenth Amendment, which guarantees that voters will elect their own U.S. senators — rather than having those senators chosen for them by the state legislature — is strangely unpopular in Tea Party circles. Both Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) believe their own elections to the United States Senate should be unconstitutional. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) called empowering voters to elect senators a mistake, and even Justice Antonin Scalia lamented the “decline of so-called states’ rights throughout the rest of the 20th century” as a result of the Seventeenth Amendment.
Earlier this month, six Georgia state lawmakers, Reps. Dustin Hightower (R), Mike Dudgeon (R), Buzz Brockway (R), Josh Clark (R), Kevin Cooke (R) and Delvis Dutton (R) decided to get in on this action, introducing a resolution calling for the Seventeenth Amendment to be repealed:

Six Georgia Lawmakers Want To Take Away Voters' Ability To Elect Their Own Senators | ThinkProgress

Who elects those who elect the senators if the 17th amendment is repealed?

 

[AmyNation]

I'm sure the people of Georgia will show them how offended they are by this purposal, by electing them all again.

 

[slackjawed]

The Seventeenth Amendment, which guarantees that voters will elect their own U.S. senators — rather than having those senators chosen for them by the state legislature — is strangely unpopular in Tea Party circles. Both Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) believe their own elections to the United States Senate should be unconstitutional. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) called empowering voters to elect senators a mistake, and even Justice Antonin Scalia lamented the “decline of so-called states’ rights throughout the rest of the 20th century” as a result of the Seventeenth Amendment.
Earlier this month, six Georgia state lawmakers, Reps. Dustin Hightower (R), Mike Dudgeon (R), Buzz Brockway (R), Josh Clark (R), Kevin Cooke (R) and Delvis Dutton (R) decided to get in on this action, introducing a resolution calling for the Seventeenth Amendment to be repealed:

Six Georgia Lawmakers Want To Take Away Voters' Ability To Elect Their Own Senators | ThinkProgress

Who elects those who elect the senators if the 17th amendment is repealed?

Prior to the 17th amendment, each state chose how to select senators. Most states had an election, about a third of the states sent senators selected by the state assemblies. two states sent senators chosen by the govenor. One state that sent senators who were chosen by the governor was Wyoming. Consider this before claiming Wyoming was backwards because Wyoming was also the first state to allow women to vote, Wyoming was told by the US congress to strike that from their constitution, but they refused, delaying Wyoming statehood by a year or so.......
The 17th amendment put career politicians into senate offices. Senators could be recalled by the state they represneted, until the 17th amendment was passed.
Big business sponsered the 17th amendment. Tamany Hall sponsered the 17th amendment.
We were more free and had much more control over our senators before the 17th amendment.
I support repealing the 17th amendment.