The Real Hawkeye
member
Bouis, you make a good point too. The Fourteenth, as it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court, essentially turns Federalism on its head, and it was Federalism that made us a great and free nation. The 16th is another biggie, as the growth of the Federal Government was then sure to accelerate to unprecedented levels.
I think also that the 17th has been overlooked, as it eliminated State oversight of the Federal Government, removing the only remaining real check on its growth in power. The words of the Constitution, by themselves, are powerless as checks. Now, in the aftermath of the Seventeenth, the Federal Government assumes just about any power it wishes, and States, as States, have no say in the matter. After all, the Federal Government has no motivation to check its own growth, and unchecked power will always lead to tyranny. The Founders knew that, which is why they originally gave the States, as States, the power to appoint their own Senators, answerable to their State governments, not the people directly.
Senators were never intended to be popular representatives (That was what our Congressional Representatives were for), but rather the representatives of the interests of State Governments, and it is only this interest that is concerned with holding the Federal Government to its listed powers, while jealously preserving the State's proper realms of power. To quote Madison, "The powers reserved to the several States [by the proposed Constitution] will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State." Nothing could be further from the truth today. How far we have come from Madison's, and the other Founders, vision.
I think also that the 17th has been overlooked, as it eliminated State oversight of the Federal Government, removing the only remaining real check on its growth in power. The words of the Constitution, by themselves, are powerless as checks. Now, in the aftermath of the Seventeenth, the Federal Government assumes just about any power it wishes, and States, as States, have no say in the matter. After all, the Federal Government has no motivation to check its own growth, and unchecked power will always lead to tyranny. The Founders knew that, which is why they originally gave the States, as States, the power to appoint their own Senators, answerable to their State governments, not the people directly.
Senators were never intended to be popular representatives (That was what our Congressional Representatives were for), but rather the representatives of the interests of State Governments, and it is only this interest that is concerned with holding the Federal Government to its listed powers, while jealously preserving the State's proper realms of power. To quote Madison, "The powers reserved to the several States [by the proposed Constitution] will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State." Nothing could be further from the truth today. How far we have come from Madison's, and the other Founders, vision.
