We Must Do More Than Just Vote

Greetings my fellow Americans!

While last week’s elections undoubtedly have given many hope that America can be saved if we just put the right people into the right offices of public service (especially at the state and national levels), this is a rather small part of the constitutional formula, and our responsibilities under it.  I hearken back to two seminal moments for what can happen if we put too much faith in what we think we know about the politicians who presumably represent us:  ratification of the 17^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1913, and the national midterm elections of 1994.

Amendment 17 fundamentally changed the balance of power in the U.S. Congress, and between the States and the federal government.  Being hawked vociferously (and propagandistically) by William Randolph Hearst and his ilk, it also greatly increased the news media’s power over, and influence on, both the elections and the composition of Congress.  On its face there appears to be a significant dichotomy of purpose and result in this change to our Constitution, as the power to directly elect U.S. Senators was bestowed upon the entire citizenry, as it was taken away from the smaller groups who were legislating in their respective States.  While our ancestors of that day were being charmed and bamboozled (by a President and press corps who were already seeking a fundamental U.S. transformation of sorts even then) into believing that empowering them to directly elect the U.S. Senate, as they already were for the House of Representatives, would eliminate the presumed corruption which had infiltrated the Senate by way of corrupt and incestuous relationships with the State legislatures who had been electing them.  Instead, they would be directly accountable to the people.

The American Founders understood human nature much more deeply than we apparently do today, and even than those of the early 20^th Century who were duped into ratifying this terrible change to our American federated framework.  Federalist Papers 62 through 66 provide significant background details into the purpose and role of the Senate, with 62 and 63 focusing on why the Senate was constituted as a necessary counterbalance to the House.  In addition to preventing larger States from dominating the political and legislative discourses to be had for the entire nation, the Senate was also to temper the whims of impulse and passion which the Founders knew from history could be quickly inflamed in the relatively uninformed masses, and which were the avenues to true corruption and undue influence at the hands of those seeking special political favors.  In short, the Senate was the representative body of the States, and entrusted with the safeguarding of the rights of the people within their respective State by virtue of election by people elected to promote and safeguard that particular State.  Once ratification of the 17 Amendment eliminated the State legislatures from the national election process, individual States were no longer truly represented in the U.S. Congress.  Furthermore, the media were now able to unduly influence the election of the entire Congress by inflaming those passions and impulses within a relatively uninformed electorate.

Fast forward to 1994:  for the first time in 40 years, the Republican Party won majorities in both houses of Congress, and completely controlled the Legislative Branch of the federal government.  While they had had brief majorities in the Senate as recently as 1987, the House had been solidly Democrat-ruled since 1955.  The main impetus for the House victory was the Contract with America, spearheaded by then-House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich.  The Contract consisted of eight major government and operational reforms, and ten legislative acts, intended to reinvigorate and advance much of what President Reagan had advocated back in 1985 when Democrats controlled the Congress. 

It began with “As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body, we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.” (emphasis added)  The House of Representatives adopted the following reforms on Day 1 of the 104^th Congress:

1. Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
2. Select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
3. Cut the number of House committees and cut committee staff by one-third;
4. Limit the terms of all committee chairs;
5. Ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
6. Require committee meetings be open to the public;
7. Require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
8. Guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

They promised to “bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny[:]”

1. The Fiscal Responsibility Act
2. The Taking Back Our Streets Act
3. The Personal Responsibility Act
4. The Family Reinforcement Act
5. The American Dream Restoration Act
6. The National Security Restoration Act
7. The Senior Citizens Fairness Act
8. The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act
9. The Common Sense Legal Reform Act
10. The Citizen Legislature Act

All but the Citizen Legislature Act (which was essentially an amendment mandating congressional term limits) passed the House.  All “died on the vine” in the Republican-led Senate.  Likewise, none of the reforms were adopted by the Senate.

It was clear by 1995 that any direct accountability to the people which had been promulgated with the ratification of the 17^th Amendment was of no apparent concern or consequence to the U.S. Senate, even when led by the GOP.  A majority tried to do the right thing with the power of their votes in 1994; while it did lead to some minor reform, the effect of the Contract was nowhere near the sweeping return to American principles which it promised to be, primarily due to a Senate more than willing to ride the coattails of the populist House, and its agenda of renewal of a government of, by and for the people into a party majority, but with no commitment to roll back any of the aspects of that government with which it has deviated from the original American framework.  The Senate which was presumably more accountable to “the people” by virtue of direct election by “the people” was now clearly accountable to no one, regardless of party leadership.

We’ve seen several changes in party control of Congress over the past 27 years since that Contract with America, and witnessed yet another Republican Senate (and House) renege in the 115^th Congress when they failed to repeal Obamacare “root and branch” as promised when seeking to regain majority control of the entire Congress and the Presidency.  Voting alone has clearly not been enough for at least 30 years, certainly not at the national level.  Thanks to the 17^th Amendment, we are now required more than ever to hold elected politicians accountable to keep the promises they make when asking for those votes; unfortunately, the system has been unfairly gamed through garbage legislation like Amendment 17 which makes that burden all the heavier.  We must do more than just vote, and it starts in our own backyards.

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