tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515829.post5720576705081658199..comments2024-03-28T20:42:14.758-07:00Comments on Irons in the Fire: Proof that leftists just do not get it,Firehandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04562365951182027709noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515829.post-72608859365417030152011-10-09T11:00:32.068-07:002011-10-09T11:00:32.068-07:00"hey didn't start running popularity cont..."hey didn't start running popularity contests for senators until the progressives at the turn of the century managed to jam that amendment through along with the income tax amendment and the one that set up the federal reserve."<br /><br />Unfortunately, there are at least two errors in that sentence. <br /><br />Sometimes the campaign for the state legislatures could turn into popularity contestants between would-be Senators. For instance, the Lincoln-Douglas debates were the two men supporting different parties for the Illinois legislature, in an attempt to win a Senate seat. Rather than this Senate seat being a real representative of Illinois, the contest warped the state legislature as all of Illinois's local issues took a back seat to a single national issue, with little direct effect on Illinois (until 250,000 Illinois men were called up for the Civil War, with several thousand of them dying.) <br /><br />There were also multiple scandals where a Senate wanna-be got caught buying a majority of the legislature. A few decades after Lincoln/Douglas, and a few decades before that amendment you mentioned, several state legislatures chose to turn their power to pick senators over to the popular vote. It's highly unusual for politicians to voluntarily give up power, especially a power that helps enrich themselves, but apparently the combination of scandals and popular Senatorial candidates intruding into their campaigns got to be too much for them.<br /><br />So, while I agree that the original plan where Senators were representatives of the state legislature sounds better than the current situation, as long as people neglect their own business to mess with "bigger" issues that are far away and poorly understood, the results aren't always going to be what you expect.markmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515829.post-88559205477127759662011-10-02T10:11:53.989-07:002011-10-02T10:11:53.989-07:00You need to use their language - the Senate was se...You need to use their language - the Senate was set up to keep the the powerful from disenfranchising minorities!!11, etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515829.post-69615345861311611212011-10-02T07:43:52.006-07:002011-10-02T07:43:52.006-07:00Don't forget to mention to that ignorant scrun...Don't forget to mention to that ignorant scrunt that originally the senators were SELECTED by the state legislatures. They didn't start running popularity contests for senators until the progressives at the turn of the century managed to jam that amendment through along with the income tax amendment and the one that set up the federal reserve.<br />You remember the income tax amendment; the one that was only going to cost the richest people one percent of their money?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515829.post-44475918900715525312011-10-02T02:53:26.110-07:002011-10-02T02:53:26.110-07:00Uh, actually, it's "Representative Republ...Uh, actually, it's "Representative Republic" which operates under democratic principles, not representative democracy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com