Support HCM 2010: Repeal the 17th Amendment
Legislative Alerts
Members of the Arizona State Legislature are seeking to pass a HCM 2010, which calls on Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment — and the detrimental effects it has had on state sovereignty.
Contact your state legislators
Please help enact HCM 2010 by contacting your state legislators. Urge them to take strong action to enforce the U.S. Constitution as the Founding Fathers intended.
Why it Matters
Members of the Arizona State Legislature are seeking to pass a resolution calling on Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment — and the detrimental effects it has had on state sovereignty.
House Concurrent Memorial 2010 (HCM 2010) is sponsored by Representative Khyl Powell (R-Gilbert). It declares, in part:
Whereas, before the passage of the seventeenth amendment to the United States Constitution, on a vacancy in the office of a senator the governor of a state was empowered under article I, section 3, clause 2 of the United States Constitution to fill the vacancy with a temporary appointment until such time as the state legislature convened and selected a replacement; and
Whereas, on ratification of the seventeenth amendment to the United States Constitution, the power to elect senators from each state was passed to the people of each state; and
Whereas, the founders of our republic and the framers of the United States Constitution recognized that, in a republican form of government, the legislative authority should necessarily be predominant; and
Whereas, the people of the State of Arizona view with growing concern the ongoing failure of political will exhibited by the members of the United States Senate with respect to federal issues that are of grave concern to the people of this state; and
Whereas, this lack of responsiveness by the members of the United States Senate to the needs of the states is attributable to the skewing of the legislative checks and balances system originally established by the founders of this country in the United States Constitution as originally adopted; and
Whereas, the people of this state firmly believe that a return to the original structure of the United States Congress is required to restore the balance between states and the federal government and that this nation is best served by returning to the prior constitutional system that provided for each state’s legislature to elect that state’s United States senators.
HCM 2010 concludes by calling upon Congress to pass a constitutional amendment repealing the 17th Amendment. Although HCM 2010 is a symbolic resolution, it would send a strong message in favor of state sovereignty, republicanism, and America’s founding principles.
Originally, Article I, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution stated: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.” (Emphasis added).
The John Birch Society has long recognized the 17th Amendment’s detrimental effects on our constitutional Republic, along with the 16th Amendment. The Founding Fathers designed the U.S. as a mixed government — not as a democracy — where monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy were combined together, equally and in a balanced manner. The result was a limited government with strong checks and balances and that successfully guaranteed Americans’ God-given freedoms.
The 16th and 17th amendments destroyed several key checks and balances on our government, including ending direct state representation in Congress. Although repealing these two amendments is ideal, enacting HCM 2010 would send a strong message supporting this goal.
Urge your state legislators to support HCM 2010 and uphold state sovereignty.