The Utah Senate asked Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment, which was ratified under the Progressive’s of 1913. Utah has boldly challenged a system that was never the intent of the Founding Fathers and suggests that the 17th Amendment has resulted in Senators being bound to special interest groups, that donate enormous sums of money for the Senator’s re-election, and not representing the needs of the people of Utah.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Al Jackson of Utah, believes that Senators need to “come home every weekend and take direction from their state legislative (sic) body and from the House and the Governor on how they should vote in the upcoming week.”
Passing with 20-6 SJR2 was sent to the House. It demands that Congress repeal the 17th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Read a history of the 17th Amendment and why Utah has made such a bold call to action on the following page.
Good luck! The States need control of the Senate again.
The state legislatures in most states have gerrymandered districts which often give one party control of the legislature even though the other party has more voters in the state. Senate seats voted on by direct ballot of the people truly represent the people of the state because each vote counts equally without the possibility of gerrymandering.
Elliott Baker, I believe that it was the rebellious south that took the first shot, and therefore confederate aggression.
Actually it’s 3/4 of the states have to ratify a repeal. That’s 38…good luck
Bad amendments should be repealed. Make no mistake, 17 is a bad one. It completely hijacked the system of government our founding fathers framed in the constitution.
Yeah right, just look at the domino effect ending prohibition had when they repealed that amendment and the wave of amendments that were dispatched after that. Dummy.
As things are under 17A your state’s representation in the US Senate is subjected to the political whims and desires of mob rule. This is not the way our government was intended to work.
Fire this Oath breaker.
I have not studied the issue in great detail, but my understanding is that the 17th amendment was supposed to stop the rampant corruption of the Senate at that time. Are they more or less corrupt now than they were then? For a reasoned discussion about repealing it, we should compare the arguments then & now, as well as the difference in political conditions of that time. I know people that believe repealing the 17th would solve many problems. I’m not convinced, but if a solid case could be made that it would, we should consider it.
Please …. leave our Constitution alone! Our current do-nothing Congress can’t even handle the business they have before them NOW. If they start messing with the Constitution they’ll have it dismantled entirely before they’re finished.