Mr. Hager wrote in part- That pretty much sums it up. For me, the real issue is balancing state power and protecting minority interests. That's why I'd want to see direct election of senators repealed. It would take a different mind set than the one dominant today for that sort of solution to be acceptable, however. ----- D- There was *unbelieveable* levels of corruption in the various State legislatures in the choosing of U.S.A Senators after the 1861-1865 Civil War and before the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 (all Senators directly elected by Nov. 1918).
One result of such corruption were the state primaries starting in the late 1880's replacing the really rotten old style boss conventions for nominating U.S.A., State and local candidates. Such primaries (41 States- plurality, 9 States- top 2 runoff) are now the root source of the special interest gangs controlling the U.S.A. and State governments --- the gangs nominate their leftwing/ rightwing extremist candidates who get elected in the various indirect minority rule gerrymander districts (of which about 97 percent are *safe* one party districts in *normal* times -- since they are now computer drawn using the latest precinct by precinct population and election results data --- that is, gerrymanders control all in the States. Basically --- the entire election system (and not just the Electoral College) in the U.S.A. is ANTI-Democracy and rotted to the core. The armies of media know-it-alls (talking heads on Sunday morning TV shows, editorial folks, political reporters, etc.) are in a state of almost total ignorance about the political structural rot in U.S.A. /State government politics. The legislative, executive and judicial rot in the Florida state/ local governments in the 2000 President election (ending in the Supremes with Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000)) woke up some folks at least. ---- For more information about this list (subscribe, unsubscribe, FAQ, etc), please see http://www.eskimo.com/~robla/em