Michelle Dupler at the Tri-City Herald provides further proof that the Republican agenda for Washington is not job creation as they claimed, but an agenda adopted from the right-wing Tea Party platform that would harm our economic recovery and sever ties with the U.S. government.
Sen. Val Stevens is pushing legislation this session that would amend the Constitution of the United States, doing away with the 17th Amendment, which guarantees the election of our U.S. senators by a vote of the people.
That amendment was adopted specifically because the people believed the state legislatures, which at the time had the power to elect the state’s U.S. senators, had become a self-serving “millionaire’s club” unresponsive to the needs of the people, only to special interests.
It’s akin to a corporate board that elects their golfing buddy to serve as CEO, in a quid pro quo that leaves the shareholders – in this case, the citizens of the Washington – out in the cold.
Sen. Stevens declares in her bill that a senator’s “general responsibility is to represent state government and the State Legislature.”
That sound you heard was the collective slapping of our country’s founding foreheads.
A senator’s paramount responsibility should be the people… as guaranteed in the 17th Amendment.
What’s more, Sen. Stevens’ memorial proclaims each senator should be chosen by a plurality vote, not a majority. This means the minority party (the Republicans) would have a better shot at electing a candidate they support. This explains the only rationale for this bill: Because they disagree with our current representation in the other Washington, they want to change the rules, even if it means taking the power FROM the people in this Washington and adding it to their own.
