Quick, what does the 17th Amendment provide for?
[Jeopardy music]
Give up? Well, I guess you are not a teabagger then if you did not know this, but the 17th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides for the direct popular election of U.S. Senators rather than having the state legislatures appoint them, which is what the Constitution originally provided for. The Amendment was part of the Progressive push to reform government and politics in the early 1900’s. Today’s teabaggers want to repeal that amendment for some reason, perhaps because they oppose democracy.
Delaware apparently never ratified the Amendment before now, which apparently did not prevent the Amendment from garnering enough states for ratification nearly a century ago. It’s kind of embarrassing, don’t ya think? Did we just forget? Was the bill for ratification lost in the desk drawer of the late Thurman Adams?
Well, a bill sponsored by David Sokola passed the General Assembly providing for ratification. I guess next up is giving women the right to vote. Do we have to? 😉