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.
Go shake your head at all the myopic ppl out there that keep spouting off about (how it was)
Without acknowledging specific instructions in the Constitution on how to change things because even they were smart enough to know that they might not have everything right.
The 17th amendment took the power from the states and gave it to the federal government. If we didn’t have the 17th amendment, many of the welfare systems we now have in place wouldn’t exist.
Congress CAN pass a bill repealing the 17th, but a majority of states would have to ratify it before it becomes law…..and several Amendments have been repealed in the past…..but this needs to be done…this Amendment basically altered the very foundations of our Govt. from what the Founding Fathers established…and the States no longer have the control over the Federal Govt that was intended
The seventeenth amendment destroyed the “elder statesman” aspect out of the Senate and insured the senators were generalized… one of the most poorly thought out things we have done in this country..
Congress must initiate the process. 3/4 of the States must ratify it, but until Congress passes it, there’s nothing to ratify.
True that Congress cannot amend or nullify an amendment on their own, but they must initiate the process. Until they do, there is nothing for the States to vote on.
I understand the argument, but I’m not sure it works in today’s political environment. The US Senators and State Governors are the only elected officials elected at large by all the citizens of the states. All the other offices. Including State Senators are elected by district and therefore subject to redistricting. Also having Senators who are political appointees rather than elected officials puts them in a similar situation as judges and bureaucrats who act without consequences.
Lead the way, UTAH.
Good luck with that.The amendment process is designed to change the constitution.
Jared Maddox what do you think about this?