What was the original intent of the Senate? We have to answer that question before we can consider your suggestions for improvement. The original intent of the Government is fairly obvious, if you think about it for a bit. Instead of three branches, imagine that it was four legs to a table.
The House of Representatives was intended to be the voice of the people. This was the part that was supposed to be populist. They would rush about and try and emphasize how much the people wanted this, or that. Things would move fast there, because fads, and passions change sometimes rather quickly.
The Senate was originally appointed by the states. They were supposed to be the voice of the State. Sort of like an Ambassador to the United States, for the State of New York. This house was intended to be slower paced, more deliberate. It was always intended to be the brakes on populism, to see if the populism continued, and if it lasted.
I know, populism as we understand it did not exist them, I'm trying to summarize some stuff here. Just take the limits of language and deal for a minute.
Finally, we have the President. He represented the United States. It's why the Senate had to advise and consent, but not the House for appointments. The States wanted some say in who would be representing the United States as Ambassadors, and Judges, and all that sort of thing. It's why the House does not have confirmation hearings, but the Senate does. The House can investigate stuff, and pass a lot of bills, but the Senate was never intended to be a funnel, taking all those bills and passing them on.
The President was responsible for National Issues, or issues that affected everyone. The legislation, the questions of the day was supposed to be viewed in that way. How do the people feel about it? How do the States feel about it? How does the nation feel about it?
How does this legislation affect the people, the states, the country? These three questions had to be answered before it could become a law. The Senators were unwieldy, and when there was a change of party at the states, they wanted to have new Senators to represent them. Everyone wanted their minion to represent the state, and would not agree to send the other guys minion to the Senate.
It was changed to show the Senator was elected by a majority of voters in the State. So the voters of a State had picked them, and thus the intent was sort of maintained. The Senator still wielded the authority of the State before the United States, but a part of the filter was gone. Now, the Senate was influenced by populism far more than they had been.
Your suggestions are that the Senate be rabidly populist. Whichever way the wind blows, they better be flapping wildly in the wind.
Term Limits are the technique that folks from Georgia hope to wield over the people in California. This is one of the things I had been trying to explain for a while. Let's say I have a negative view of Congress. Then why do I and my fellow citizens keep sending up the same idiot to represent us in the House? Why do we send the same idiot every six years to represent us in the Senate? The answer is what I don't like about Congress is that you are stopping my Congress critter from doing what I think should be done in the Nation.
Look at it seriously for a minute. Half of the races in the nation mention Nancy Pelosi. She is the Representative, only one, from a small district in California. When we talk about how unfavorably Congress is viewed, it's that the rest of the nation does not agree with us. Democrats from Califorinia are pissed at Georgia, South Carolina, and the list goes on, for being all redneck and conservative, and they hate Congress for standing in the way of the progressive changes that are needed.
Folks in Alabama are pissed at California for always sending Nancy up to represent them. People in swing districts, purple districts are swamped with vote for us or they'll win messages. Vote Repubican unless you want Nancy Pelosi to be the next Speaker of the House. Vote for us and we can get rid of those fascist Republicans, and make Nancy the Speaker again.
Term limits exist. Every state has the chance to pick a new representative every election. Every state has a chance to vote for a different candidate for the Senate Seat every six years. New York sends their choice, and Georgia sends their choice. We don't have to agree but we have to admit that the choice from New York has just as much validity as the choice from Wyoming. If New York doesn't like the Senator they voted for, they can always vote them out.
