title:  Republicans Are Trying To Destroy The Senate As We Know It, Taking Away Your Vote — Here’s How
text: The American Legislative Exchange Council, otherwise known as ALEC, is a corporate-funded project whose agenda is to give Republicans even more of an advantage, starting at the very top and working their way down. Part of their right-wing agenda now is to go 104 years back in time and get rid of an elected Senate, instead reverting to Senators being decided by deals between wealthy campaign donors, corporate lobbyists, and legislators.Trying to bring an end to representative democracy in the US isn t a particularly new idea, it s one that has been getting proposed for decades, however, nobody has come as close to making it a reality as ALEC. In fact, last year they circulated a document entitled Draft Resolution Recommending Constitutional Amendment Restoring Election of US Senators to the Legislatures of the Sovereign States, something that will most likely be discussed at great length at ALEC s annual meeting this week. If the article is approved by ALEC members, becomes part of their official agenda and is eventually instated, it will take a step backward and return the US to the corrupt and undemocratic practice of state legislators bartering off Senate seats, which was ended in 1913.When you take a look at that document you can tell these guys aren t fooling around, as it goes almost immediately to their ultimate goal:Section 1. The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.Section 2. Senators shall be elected exclusively by the State legislature, upon a majority vote of legislators present and voting in a joint session. If a vacancy shall exist for more than one hundred-eighty days, then the Governor shall appoint the Senator to serve the remainder of the vacant term. This procedure may not be modified by state initiative or referendum.Section 3. State legislatures may issue instructions to, or recall, their Senators at any time.By doing this, Congress will become more representative of corporations than citizens of the United States and also the imbalance in the upper chamber would almost certainly grow. Fortunately, overturning the Seventeenth Amendment would be no easy task, but it is a terrifying prospect that there are organizations trying to stifle democracy in the United States of America.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images