Ben Sasse Calls For Repealing The 17th Amendment
Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal.
dailycaller.com
Sasse’s op-ed, titled, “Make the Senate Great Again,” suggested several Senate reforms “aimed at promoting debate, not ending it.”
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“Ratified in 1912, it replaced the appointment of senators by state legislatures with direct election,” he wrote. “Different states bring different solutions to the table, and that ought to be reflected in the Senate’s national debate. The old saying used to be that all politics is local, but today—thanks to the internet, 24/7 cable news and a cottage industry dedicated to political addiction—politics is polarized and national. That would change if state legislatures had direct control over who serves in the Senate.”
The Nebraska senator’s list of reforms also included abolishing standing committees, requiring senators to show up for debates, term limits, and requiring senators to live together in dorms when in Washington.
Honestly, I think this could be a good idea, but as part of a broader Amendment that implemented some of the other reforms he proposed, like abolishing standing committees, making senators show up for debates, putting senators in dorms, and added some safe guards against corruption. That's mostly because, from my understanding of what was intended, the Senate was supposed to be a counterweight against rapid change and to give the states a say in the federal government.
That said, we could use a few other amendments to fix some of our other modern problems.