Commentary On Elections-Part Thirty-Three

The 17th Amendment passed in 1913, nearly a half century after the American Civil War, was clear when it stated that each state should have two U.S. Senators. It basically cited what was written in the original American Constitution.

When the American Constitution was finally ratified in 1789, the individual states were sovereign and the federal government was subordinate to the governments of each state. The American Constitution was a document that each state signed on to as the nation's charter and supreme law of the land. It delineated and detailed the functions and restrictions of government. With the exception of that, each state in that union was in charge of providing governance to its own citizens. In other words, there was no federal law that applied to each state and its people other than the American Constitution.

As a result of the American Civil War, the united States became the United States, the American Constitution became the U.S. Constitution, and the federal government became the sovereign governmental authority. The 14th Amendment paved way to that. While this "federalization" did not violate the American Constitution and its text, it certainly did deviate from the core governmental structure that served as a base on which that nation's charter was written. The Founding Fathers did not foresee this "federalization" change.

This "federalization" took place in the late 1860's. Americans have seemingly accepted this change as this change has probably advanced their society and their individual rights. However since federal government is the supreme governmental authority, the number of senators should no longer be two. The U.S. Senators are elected by the People in the entire state to serve the entire nation. The states' governments no longer select the nation's government like it did prior to the American Civil War. The nation's government, through certain Constitutional Amendments and a myriad of federal laws, have since the aftermath of the American Civil War control state governments. The members of the U.S. Senators stopped being representatives of each state when government was "federalized" and instead became officeholders directly employed by the federal government legislative body. Since the federal government is presently supreme, the fact that there are only two U.S. Senators per state is indeed indicative of Imperial Democracy.

When each of the Several States were sovereign, it was acceptable to send only two people to serve as members of the U.S. Senate. The senators were chosen by the state legislatures to serve as ambassadors of the state. Now that U.S. Senators serve directly in a sovereign federal legislative body as they are elected directly by the people, their role has become direct democratic. This needs to change. One way this can change in present times and circumstances is to expand the number of members from each state serving as U.S. Senators. Of course limiting the term of these officeholder from six years to five years will help to a smaller extent.

Finally, U.S Senators must be each selected by the state legislature. The members of the state legislature who belong to each of the three different regions in every state must choose their own member of the U.S. Senate who also hails from their own region in their state.