Author Topic: On the Role of the Senate  (Read 510 times)

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,746
  • I'm an Extremist!
On the Role of the Senate
« on: April 09, 2021, 04:06:15 PM »
Man, I so love when these liberal wankers come up with graphics to prove why the senate is bad to only end up proving why we absolutely need the senate to protect us from the voting power of a single state.  :rofl:



https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2021/04/09/max-bergers-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-stupid-thread-whining-about-how-the-senate-works-belongs-in-derp-hall-of-fame/
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Hawkmoon

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 27,199
Re: On the Role of the Senate
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2021, 06:19:02 PM »
I'm betting he doesn't even know that senators were not originally elected by popular vote.

From The Constitution, as originally adopted: Article 1, Section 3:

Quote
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Amendment 17 (ratified 1913):

Quote
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

The underlying intention was that the House represents the people, and the Senate represents the states.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
100% Politically Incorrect by Design

kgbsquirrel

  • APS Photoshop God
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 5,466
  • Bill, slayer of threads.
Re: On the Role of the Senate
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2021, 08:06:52 PM »
Amendment 17 violates the final clause in Article V; it is literally the only amendment not allowed.

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

States absolutely can and should be appointing their federal senators.

HankB

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16,564
Re: On the Role of the Senate
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2021, 12:21:26 PM »
If the Senate representation from each state were based on population the same way House seats are apportioned, the only way smaller states would have joined the USA would have been literally at gunpoint, much in the way the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia "joined" the Soviet Union.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain