<< Previous day Blog posts in this category Next day >>
<< Previous year (same day) (if any) Next year (same day) >>
February 22, 2009 [LINK / comment]
Repeal the 17th Amendment?
Now that Sen. Roland Burris is in legal and political jeopardy because of false or incomplete testimony while he was being scrutinized for fitness to serve in the U.S. Senate, the question arises as to what lessons we should draw from this fiasco. Sen. Russ Feingold has proposed to amend the 17th Amendment, which provided for direct popular election of senators, which was originally the prerogative of state legislatures. To prevent governors from abusing their discretion to appoint senators such as former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich did, Feingold would require all states to hold elections to fill senate vacancies soon after they occur; at present, four states have such a provision.
In today's Washington Post, George Will heaps scorn on Feingold for "more vandalism against the Constitution," after the Feingold-McCain Act gutted (Will believes) the First Amendment. Will belittles the naive progressive belief that more democracy is always better, and that federalism is a quaint, bygone custom. Instead, Will says, it would be better to simply repeal the 17th Amendment. Of course, that's not very practical, given the exaggerated faith in democracy in contemporary America. But at least this ought to spur some serious thinking on restoring the proper function of the U.S. Senate as a deliberative body, rather than an assembly that is primarily responsive to the popular will. Ironically, Will's suggestion would probably not be very popular.
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 23 Feb 2009, 12: 08 AM
(unformatted URL) .
ALL blog posts today
New blog post entry
This post is over a week old, so comments are closed.
© Andrew G. Clem. All rights reserved. Your use of this material signifies your acceptance of the Terms of use.
Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007: 
Category archives:
(all years)
Baseball
Politics
Latin America
War
Wild Birds
Culture & Travel
Science & Technology
This (or that) year's
blog highlights
January 5, 2009 Illegal immigration: no problem
January 10, 2009 Bush's fiscal profligacy: a recap
January 20, 2009 Inauguration Day 2009
March 13, 2009 Tax revolt in Augusta County!
March 14, 2009 Mexican Army counterattacks
March 27, 2009 Facebook: resistance is futile
April 5, 2009 RPV chair Frederick is removed
April 8, 2009 Fujimori is convicted, again
May 3, 2009 (Very) Big Spring Day, 2009
June 12, 2009 Tiger Stadium memorial update
June 16, 2009 Home runs in New Yankee Stadium
June 28, 2009 Obama's health care proposals
June 29, 2009 House votes to regulate climate
July 7, 2009 R.I.P. Michael Jackson, Superstar
July 9, 2009 Conservative defeat in Mexico
August 16, 2009 Great Baseball Road Trip 2009
August 23, 2009 Road Trip 2009: The Birds of August
August 27, 2009 R.I.P. Edward M. Kennedy
September 7, 2009 Two clutch homers end Nats' skid
October 10, 2009 Republicans reunite in Verona
October 16, 2009 Health care polemics heat up
November 4, 2009 Republicans sweep Virginia races
November 5, 2009 Yankees are the 2009 champions
November 21, 2009 Senate votes on health care
December 23, 2009 Musings on health care "reform"
December 30, 2009 Decade of creation, and destruction
December 30, 2009 Whither the Republican soul?
December 31, 2009 A (half) decade of baseball in D.C.
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
- Wild birds (LAST)
- War
- Science & Technology
- Politics
- Latin America
- Culture & Travel
- Canaries ("Home birds")
- Baseball (FIRST)
Also see: My blog practices.
Blog errata (Nobody's perfect.)
