States' Liberty Party
"The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government". -Federalist 9, by Alexander Hamilton
stepMontana bill SJ-10, to repeal the 17th Amendment, in 2003 passed the Judiciary Committee 6-3 but was defeated in the full Senate.
Learn why from State Senator Jerry O'Neil, author of the Montana bill
In 1791 the state legislatures ran the United States Senate, but the 17th Amendment passed in 1913, reversed the power of the states, removing their control over Washington and creating two separate and redundant Houses of the People..
With no guidance by the legislatures, Congress has a misdirected role, duplicating functions the Constitution had given to the states. Gun regulation should be a federal issue whenever it involves the movement of guns between states, sale of a gun to a non-resident, or when the separate state legislatures see need for a uniform law,. A Senate not answerable to the state legislators will pass bills to please their constituents, duplicating House bills and negating more relevant laws passed by the separate states.
The 17th Amendment did more than increase the role of the federal government. It fundamentally changed the Constitution because it ended the states legislative role in Washington.
The States' Liberty Party will repeal the 17th Amendment and reaffirm the perpetuity of the United States Constitution and first several amendments.
by John MacMullin
In the original design by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, there was an effective check on Congress through the state legislatures' power to appoint (and remove) U.S. Senators. The 17th Amendment eliminated the checks and balances available to the states over federal power or over Congress itself in any area.
Law Review by John MacMullin, Cited as "worth reading" by the National Law Journal
In Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority the Supreme Court recognized that the seventeenth amendment, which provides for the popular election of Senators, may have diminished the influence that state governments have over the federal political process and, thereby, the effectiveness of the states' role in that process
By Friends For America
Friends For America-- a non-profit Corp.–was founded by volunteers to bring about a rebirth of freedom by restoring the balance of powers between the state governments and national government, with a mission of educating state legislators of their responsibility to maintain states rights and sovereignty.
By Jim Hauser
He said that he was from the future and had come back in time to point out an error in the proposed constitution for the states. I was just getting ready to point out to him that what he foresees as the future of this country could never happen according to his imaginary account. Aside from the checks in the Constitution there is the moral fiber of humanity that gets it's sustenance from above. The people of this soon to be born nation will never allow such foolish things to happen.
By John MacMullin
Thomas Jefferson once stated during the formation of the U.S. Government: "We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of [the] Union, should be able to comprehend them to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them."
Amendment text and Findlaw annotations
John Dean, a FindLaw columnist, is a former Counsel to the President of the United States
As John MacMullin has pointed out, the change imposed by the 17th amendment dealt a fatal blow to full representation by the states in shaping federal policy
The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, changed the method of selecting senators from election by state legislatures to popular election. This change was made during the height of the Progressive Era, a populist movement that sought increased suffrage, a bigger role for government, and other democratic reforms.
The U.S. Constitution has changed over time, sometimes by formal amendment and other times by judicial interpretation, presidential and congressional action, and general custom and practice.
Official web site of the US Senate
A draft bill sponsored by Montana State Senator Jerry O'Neill is being introduced into Montana Legislature early next week urging Congress to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment
That New Hampshire and the sovereign people of this state from this day forward shall not be subject to any law, rule, resolution, code, or executive order that exceeds the scope of the several parts of the constitutions of either New Hampshire or of the subordinate United States of America.
The message of this book is both profound and stark: federalism is dead and the 17th Amendment killed it