Lies the government told you by Andrew Napolitano (big screen ebook reader .TXT) 📕

the States’ power by providing an “absolute safeguard” against federal government tyranny. George Mason opined that the election of senators by state legislatures would provide the people with “some means of defending themselves against encroachments of the National Government.”

Simply put, U.S. Senators were intended to be “ambassadors of the states,”8 as States, not representatives of the people in them. Recall that the States, through their delegates at the Constitutional Convention, formed the federal government and ceded power to it. President Ronald Reagan highlighted this fact in his First Inaugural Address, stating that “[a]ll of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.” It only made sense, then, that in the upper house of Congress, the States, as States, would be represented. The preamble of the Constitution begins with, “We the People . . . ,” but this is misleading, for the “People” did not cede power to the Constitution. Rather, “We the States . . .” did so.

For some time, state legislatures held their U.S. Senators accountable and instructed them on how to act. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolves of 1798, for example, instructed those States’ senators to oppose the Sedition Act, which effectually criminalized the uttering of statements critical of the federal government.9 The Resolves would not have been possible without the influence of state legislatures.10 State legislatures also played an integral role in forcing their senators to support President Andrew Jackson’s crusade against the Bank of the United States.11 Senator Pelog Sprague of Maine, for example, was forced to resign in 1835, after disregarding his state’s instruction.12 Seven other senators suffered the same fate.13

The direct election of senators was a popular idea until the end of the nineteenth century. The very first resolution calling for direct election was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 14th 1826, eighty-six years before the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified.14 In the interim, 187 comparable resolutions were introduced in Congress, 167 of which were introduced after 1880.15 Concern over the original selection of senators increased as the methods by which the States chose their U.S. Senators proved cumbersome for the U.S. Senate, which, pursuant to Article I, Section 4, is entrusted with determining whether its members have been appropriately chosen.16

Since Article I, Section 3, does not specify the manner in which state legislatures must select their U.S. Senators, the States’ selection methods were not uniform. Some senate elections resulted in “legislative deadlock,” where no candidate received a majority of the state legislature’s vote.17 To avoid having to review elections, the Senate, with approval by the House of Representatives, passed legislation in 1866 exercising greater control over senate elections.18 The legislation, which is a clear example of federal imposition on states’ rights, also proved to be highly ineffective, as legislative deadlocks increased drastically.19 It was also unconstitutional.

Charges of bribery and corruption stemmed from the deadlocks that the 1866 legislation created.20 Between the passage of the 1866 act and 1900, the Senate investigated potential bribery in nine senate election cases, and had investigated five more cases by 1912.21 Corruption was found in a very limited number of cases, but the investigations were highly publicized, and supported the notion that state legislatures could not be trusted.22

Furthermore, the development of Populism and Progressivism— two demons that have only destroyed individual liberty—pushed for a change in the way senators were selected.23 The Populists characterized the Senate as a “millionaires club” that was “too far removed from the people, beyond their reach, and with no especial interest in their welfare.”24 Progressivism, a movement that developed as Populism declined, supported a democracy in which the people directly chose all of their representatives.25 Despite the Founders’ ideas, Progressives believed that Americans had become “a new people living and acting under an old system.”26 Progressivism was, and is, based on what I like to call the Gang theory and the Robin Hood theory of government.

The Progressives believe that all power goes to the gang that gets the most votes, and thus all structural efforts to temper that power— like federalism, states’ rights, even natural rights—must give way to the majority’s will. Progressives also believe that somehow, from somewhere, from some source other than the Constitution, they can use the power of government to steal from those who have and give to those who do not. Woodrow Wilson led the Progressives in the Democratic Party, and Theodore Roosevelt led the Progressives in the Republican Party. By promoting and enacting just two amendments to the Constitution—the Sixteenth, which purported to permit taxes on personal incomes; and the Seventeenth, discussed herein—these pernicious little tyrants destroyed many property rights, much federalism, and a great deal of personal freedoms.

The Seventeenth Amendment was approved by Congress on May 12th 1912, and ratified by three-quarters of the States on May 31st 1913. The Amendment states, in part, that “[t]he Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof. . . .” This Amendment is a mortal blow to the concept of federalism, as it prevents state legislatures from having any influence in the federal government. Sure, the Amendment ensures that all members of Congress are elected by the people, but the people of an entire state are unable to affect the actions of their U.S. Senators; they can only vote them out of office after their lengthy, six-year terms. Furthermore, the people of every State are not trained to influence federal government policy, and would not know what to do even if given the opportunity to communicate with their senators.27

We live in a representative democracy, not a true democracy, and we trust our representatives to look out for our best interests. The original Constitution provided our state legislatures control of our U.S. Senators, but the Seventeenth Amendment took the power out of their hands, rendering the States defenseless against federal government abuses. It is no coincidence that the size of the federal government has grown