By: Dick Manasseri
Watchdogwire – Michigan

The 17th Amendment is why we have a Senate that is funding Obamacare against the wishes of the vast majority of the American people.

The Progressives pushed through the 17th Amendment in 1913 so that Senators would no longer be selected by the state legislatures but rather by the popular vote of the entire state. This was done by the Progressives to reduce the power of individual states and to increase the power of the national government.

Imagine if Mitch McConnell, John McCain, John Cornyn, and Lindsay Graham were accountable to the state legislatures of Kentucky, Arizona, Texas, and South Carolina, respectively. They could never be the progressive Republicans they have become. They could not play the games we saw this week.

Imagine if the Michigan legislature selected our U.S. Senators. Levin and Stabenow wouldn’t have a prayer, because they are two of the most progressive politicians in the country.

The Communists, Socialists, and Progressives have used Saul Alinsky tactics, including the power of Big Labor, to take over the leadership of every major city – Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc., all in red on the map below.

Results of the 2012 presidential election by county (red: Obama, blue: Romney)

The Progressives have successfully transformed many urban dwellers into dependents who do not pay taxes and who are advocates for the welfare state even if they have to forfeit liberty to do so. Most of the non-urban counties in Michigan and other states are made up of conservatives, libertarians, and independents who honor their freedom more than a check from the government.

As a result of the 17th Amendment, when the large urban vote overwhelms the accumulation of the more liberty-conscious voters in a state, the Senators elected are progressive whether they Democrat or Republican, even though the state legislature is much more conservative.

When a newly elected Senator gets to Washington, D.C., he/she quickly becomes beholden to the national liberal media and the large national self-interest groups with their K Street lobbyists. At re-election time, money pours in from the national GOP and from K Street, not Main Street. Opportunities for soft corruption abound. In many cases, Senators become political elitists “living the high life while Americans suffer.”

Mark Levin’s book The Liberty Amendments calls for the repeal of the 17th Amendment via a convention convened by a majority of state legislatures per Section V of the U.S. Constitution. Concurrently, liberty-loving groups could ensure better candidates for state legislatures if they found out where they stand on the Liberty Amendment Movement.

Dick Manasseri, a resident of Rochester Hills, is a big fan of the US Constitution, doing whatever he can to preserve and protect it for his children and grandchildren.