I've always been impressed by Thomas Sowell's writings. Here he writes about the divergence of politics from reality and how so many people today focus on what the voters believe, rather than what is the best course of action.
Warren Buffet's ingenious solution to the debt crises is revealing. How do you motivate Congress? By threatening their chances for re-election. This just proves how easy it is for them to get wrapped up in pleasing the voters (who don't always know what is best) rather than finding solutions.
Therefore I wonder if the 17th Amendment, requiring Senators to be elected directly, was a bad idea. The whole idea of the Senate was to have a second chamber of Congress to balance the other. Currently there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two, other than term length. Were the Senate to be elected by state legislatures, it would create a different body to balance the House of Representatives, much less reliant on popular opinion and getting re-elected.
The whole system of government of the United States of America is built upon checks and balances, and the 17th Amendment removed one of those balances.
I don't wish to sound as if "the people" are wholly unreliable and shouldn't be allowed to govern themselves. Indeed, were the circumstances different, I would be championing the importance that the House of Representatives be elected directly. However, we have gone too far in that direction and must again seek a balance.
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