Thad Cochran won the Mississippi primary runoff on tuesday, with the help of 35,000 voters from the opposing party. Many are not aware, that our US Senators were not always elected.
The 17th amendment 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. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct".
WIth the ratification of this amendment on April 8th, 1913 the progressive agenda scored a huge victory, along with the 16th amendment establishing the income tax that came just before this, and was ratified on February 3rd of the same year(1913). Before this time, Senators were not elected via popular vote, they were appointed by state legislators. This allowed the elected representitives of said state, to appoint the State's 2 Senators, and give the people of that state, 2 voices in the US Senate that aligned most with the peoples' values, and principles. I just thought that this was a relevant topic, given Senator Cochran's shady victory this week, and the tactics that wered used. For more on the 17th amendment, http://constitution.laws.com/17th-amendment
The 17th amendment 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. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct".
WIth the ratification of this amendment on April 8th, 1913 the progressive agenda scored a huge victory, along with the 16th amendment establishing the income tax that came just before this, and was ratified on February 3rd of the same year(1913). Before this time, Senators were not elected via popular vote, they were appointed by state legislators. This allowed the elected representitives of said state, to appoint the State's 2 Senators, and give the people of that state, 2 voices in the US Senate that aligned most with the peoples' values, and principles. I just thought that this was a relevant topic, given Senator Cochran's shady victory this week, and the tactics that wered used. For more on the 17th amendment, http://constitution.laws.com/17th-amendment