How the 17th Amendment
is destroying our Nation

The 17th Amendment is a subtle, little understood attack on our Constitutional Liberty.

The heart of it states, "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."

This Amends Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution, which states, "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."

Appointed by their State's Legislature
vs.
Elected by the People,
... what difference does it make?

To understand the significance of this change, we need to first understand the concerns of our Founding Fathers.

In 1787-88, when the States were debating the ratification of the newly proposed US Constitution, there was a great deal of resistance to it. Most of this resistance was from a concern of transferring too much power from the States to a strong central government. The States were, at this time, almost as independent as small, separate countries, and jealously guarded their sovereignty.

The US Constitution was very carefully written to limit the Federal Government to very few, specific powers which were enumerated within the Constitution itself.

Then, all powers not specifically "delegated to the United States [Federal Government] by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (10th Amendment)

To preserve the power and sovereignty of the States, the US Senate was designated to be the "voice of the States" in Washington DC (just as the House of Representatives is the voice of the people). Since the Senate was appointed by their State Legislatures, Senators would be held accountable to represent the interests of their State Government.

Now, what is the natural self-interest of a state legislature? The preservation of their own power! If the Federal Government grows and takes on new power, it must take this power from the States (remember the 10th amendment).

A Legislature-appointed Senate would never allow a power transfer to the Federal Government and still expect to be reappointed by their State Legislature for another term of office.

In 1913, the 17th Amendment was reported to be ratified, although evidence of this ratification is lacking (see article below). Since that time, the States have had no voice in DC to prevent the Federal Government from usurping powers originally reserved to the States.

Examples of this are too numerous to list. However, one with which we should all be familiar is the Federal 'No Child Left Behind Act' (NCLB). Clearly, the Constitution grants no authority over public education. Utah's State Legislature even passed a resolution declaring NCLB to have no Constitutional authority, and that Utah would not be observing this Federal Mandate. Within 48 hours, Federal jets landed in the SLC Airport, and Federal Agents paid visits to every state agency that receives Federal Funding. They used the power of this bribe-money to strong-arm the Utah State Legislature into submission. Utah's Legislators quickly backed down. Had the US Senators stood up for the power of their States, NCLB would have never passed.

Predictably, in the past 94 years, the Federal Government has grown to behemoth proportions, and the States are left with very little real power, except as the Federal Government allows.

If we are to reduce the Federal Government to fit within the limits prescribed by the Constitution, we need Senators who are held accountable for protecting the sovereignty of their States. We need to repeal the 17th Amendment and return to the inspired wisdom of our Founding Fathers

By Robert Brown, Editor - www.KnowYourRINO.com

States must force 17th Amendment showdown Posted: February 4, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in." – President Andrew Jackson The courage and wisdom of those who birthed this Republic was nothing short of a magnificent event in the history of the world. When creating the federal government, it was imperative that the colonies (later called states) and the people be represented fairly. The method decided upon was the people would vote for their voice – a representative to serve in the House of Representatives. The states of the Union would each have an equal number of U.S. Senators (fixed at two), appointed by their state legislature to represent the interests of the state. Should that U.S. senator fail in their job, the legislature would recall them and appoint a new one. The decision to have the states appoint their U.S. senators was very calculated. All of that changed with the fraudulent ratification of the 17th Amendment. U.S. senators would now be elected. The states lost their suffrage rights, they no longer had any representation in Washington, D.C., and the federal machine has walked all over them since. This issue is one of the most important problems facing this nation today, yet few know anything about it. Last summer, I prepared a working paper for Rep. Henry McElroy of the New Hampshire state Legislature on the history of this amendment and why it is imperative the states step forward and force a constitutional showdown. For those who might knee jerk this would cause constitutional chaos, I can't highly recommend enough Judge Andrew Napolitano's excellent book, "Constitutional Chaos." We're already in constitutional chaos and the situation will only continue to deteriorate without immediate action. The 17th Amendment was never properly ratified. I have seen the proof with my own eyes at the National Archives and from the documents obtained by Bill Benson from all 48 state legislatures in his work, "Proof the 17th Amendment Was Not Ratified." I also collected court certified documents on this from the bowels of the California State Archives. They are incontrovertible and prove without question that Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, on May 31, 1913, knowingly and willfully issued a memo declaring the 17th Amendment ratified even though he knew the required number of states did not ratify it. The courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court have been very specific on the rigid requirements for ratification. There can be no mistake fraud was committed and that every U.S. senator since 1913 sits in office under a law that does not exist. U.S. senators ratify treaties, confirm federal judges, U.S. Supreme Court justices and hold impeachment trials. Legally, our participation in the United Nations, every destructive trade treaty, i.e., NAFTA, GATT, Roe v. Wade and any other legislative acts committed by U.S. senators these past 92 years are invalid. The courts refuse to touch this issue because they don't have the backbone. While several states have introduced resolutions to nix the 17th Amendment (introduced by patriotic representatives and killed by Republicans in every instance), realistically, there's no question this current crop of Congress will never do the right thing. Therefore, it is up to the people and the states of the Union. The people must get the proof and begin a systematic assault (non violent, of course) on their state legislatures to appoint two U.S. senators to represent them and send them to Washington, D.C. This will force the issue into a court of law where it should have gone decades ago. Please feel free to use the working paper I prepared for Rep. McElroy for your state rep and senator. They will soon realize that it is to their utmost advantage to press this issue and for the sake of our Republic, this challenge must be made to restore the balance between the states and the people. America is not a democracy of mob rule, but that's exactly what has happened with the election of U.S. senators. Without question this is a Herculean task, but it can be done. If you know your state representative or state senator will play politics and ignore this fraud, then run for their seat. We only need one state legislature to find the courage to stand up to this lie and make their move. Make a commitment to oust any state legislator or senator who refuses to undertake this fight. We must replace these bad employees with ones who will get the job done or America is going down. The destiny of this Republic lies in the hands of we the people. There are millions of active Americans in 28,000 citizens groups. It's time to focus on specific issues killing our beloved nation – invasion by illegals, unconstitutional cabinets, unconstitutional spending – get organized and throw out the same old career politicians at every level of government and get true constitutionalists elected who will have the guts to get this Republic back on course. I leave by asking you this: Are we a nation of laws or lies? We cannot be both and survive. Devvy Kidd authored the booklet, "Why A Bankrupt America and Blind Loyalty," which has over 2 million copies in distribution. She has been a guest more than 1,600 times on radio shows, run for Congress twice and is a highly sought after public speaker. To learn more about Devvy, please visit her website. (Source of article)