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.
Rockin Jimmay Thanks for the history lesson, its been about 40 years since I learned it.
You don’t need congress…just a convention of the states to do so. This would put the control of the Senate back in the hands of the state legislatures where it belongs greatly weakening the hold the federal gov’t has. The progressives in the early part of the 20th century understood that if they could get both houses of congress under the direct control of the people, they could start growing gov’t. People are easy to control through the media and with enough time, would surrender their rights one at a time. Oh, make sure you also add the 16th amendment; totally eliminate income tax. That’ll cut the purse strings and put money back in the hands of the people.
Dianna Sam Murray NO, NO. It sounds like a good idea, but there is no guarantee that they would not scrap the whole Constitution and gives us something out of the UN.
The 17th Amendment gives more power to the federal government and less to the states. It’s a bad amendment
Utah just made the list of places to move after retirement.
Not sure, I’d rather be able to vote for my senator then have a selected few do it for me…. but then you have north dakota and the state votes Republican in state elections, but voted Democrat for state wide elections.. then you have mn which basically votes democrat from state to federal elections…. guess I’d rather have my say, then allowing some yahoo to make the choice for me.. how many times have your elected old boys club done something different then you wanted… guess we’re screwed coming or going…
It’s time to repeal the 17th AND THE 26th AMENDMENT. Let’s get it done!!!!
Amen. The 17th is b******t. The Senators were to be the representatives of the STATES, not the People. A mirror of the “House of Commons” and “House of Lords” in Britain. To put issues at conflict between different States to rest. Then they turned it into just another popularity contest with longer terms. Largely occupied by carpetbaggers.
evidently the Utah senate is not familiar with the constitution . Perhaps they should read article V before making idiots out of themselves
This amendment only deals with the way senators are choosen…. Just because they become appointed, doesn’t mean they will work better for the state… that just means that nepotism will have a new branch to walk across… If they want to change the way senators work… they should just change the job responsibilities….