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.
Damien Fryzel I don’t think that’s true. It would be politically hard to accomplish, but there is no legal barrier to making the attempt.
David D. Miller do you have some supporting documentation for this claim? I’ve seen it twice in this thread and I don’t think its right.
Utah has spoken… (pause for amused laughter)
No need to repeal the 17th amendment…each state can institute its own requirements for its Senators…such as coming home every weekend (or actually maintaining a “real” residence within the state…not Washington, D.C….IF any amendment needs to be repealed it would be the 14th, since that is the one being used by illegal aliens to create “anchor babies”…
Instead of repealing the 17th amendment to avoid special interest groups swaying the balance, why don’t we just make it law that special interest groups can’t donate to government officials? Keep the lobbying idea for interests, take away the money.
Yes…the Senate is supposed to represent the States and their interests and should be chosen by the leaders of the State, and not be elected by the citizens. The public’s representatives are those they elect to the House of Representatives. They have a two year term so they can be replaced if they don’t represent the public. The Senate, with a 6 year term, is supposed to make the State choose more carefully and extend the term past those for most other elected offices. The States currently have no representatives that protect States rights as per the 10th Amendment. That is why the federal government keeps stealing States rights from them. It’s time that each State had it’s representatives returned.
Please repeal the 17th. It is the single primary reason why our country is in the trouble it is today.
If it is repealed it would have to be done the same way it was put in by ammendment
Anything can be repealed or changed. In fact, call a convention of the state’s and you can burn the entire document and start from scratch.
This has nothing to do with the 17th amendment, it’s all about setting precedent for repealing other amendments, namely the 2nd amendment which is Obama and Hillary’s ultimate goal.