Re: Wringing-the-Neck of Empty Ritual.

> (1.)    From its inception, the Constitution has included a US Senate.
> Arguably, the Senate is the most powerful group of people in this
> country.  *** However, power which is not derived from the equitable
> control of the people, runs counter to the SPIRIT of the Constitution!
> ***  From day one, there was a conflict of purpose in the Constitution
> that not a SINGLE person who has taken an oath-of-office has been
> willing to stand up and vow to get corrected!  The 'tradition' of
> allowing the Senate to continue, does NOT excuse the RESPONSIBILITY of
> those taking Oaths of Office to work to get the Constitution amended,
> or changed, to eliminate the UNDEMOCRATIC Senate!

> The Senate -- when the Constitution was drafted -- represented the
> Sovereign States (ie. those parties to the contract known as the
> Constitution). Not certain what point you imagine to be making.

[A]

A.  The SPIRIT of the Constitution, and the general context of the
Constitution, all have government being under the control of the
People, not the other-way-around.  Our nation was conceived to be a
Representative Republic—the closest practical approximation to a
democracy.  Until recent years, having a working democracy wasn't even
a possibility.  The ability to electronically tally the results of our
national elections within a few hours, now makes "popular votes"
closer to the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers than Electoral
College APPROXIMATIONS of the Will of the People.

The Constitution was an agreement between the Sovereign States.
The Preamble denoted that fact until someone realized there was no
way to determine WHICH of the States would ratify.

"We the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts,

Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York,

New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina,

South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare, and establish the

following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our

Posterity.

Article V denotes who can change the agreement:

 when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several

States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof,

And who put the agreement into force:

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for

the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the

Same.

Which specifically denotes that the Constitution is between those States.

The Founders abhorred democracy

We are now forming a Republican form of government.

Real liberty is not found in the extremes of

democracy, but in moderate governments. If we

incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot

into a monarchy, or some other form of

dictatorship. -- Hamilton

Democracy, simple democracy, never had a patron among

men of letters. The people have almost always expected to

be served gratis, and to be paid for the honor of serving

them; and their applause and adorations are bestowed

too often on artifice and tricks, on hypocrisy and superstition,

on flattery, bribes, and largesses.

-- John Adams, in A Defence of the Constitutions

Why should 50%+1 rule over 50%-1?

The 17th Amendment allowed the citizens of each state to select their
two senators.  That was a minor change, indeed, and left the too-
powerful, and on-the-SPIRIT, unconstitutional, US Senate in place.
The only representative way the US Senate could not be in violation of
the SPIRIT of the Constitution would be to allow the collective voters
in ALL states to approve the two senators selected from each of the
various states.  That would give two senators from each geographic
state, but would allow their having political philosophies agreeable
to the majority of Americans.

The 17th Amendment is unconstitutional as Article V requires it be
passed with unanimity. If memory serves 1 state rejected it and 9
still have not ratified.
The 17th Amendment eliminates the CHECK against Federal power
by the States who no longer have their equal suffrage,

Since the Constitution is an agreement between the States, I am not
cerain where your 'spirit' is derived.



Regard$,
--MJ

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States 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. -- James Madison, Federalist Papers