Education choice supporters win big in 2022 midterm elections (VoterID, Voter ID, Voter Registration) — and lose big in 2020 cycle.
The U.S. Constitution specifies that the choice of senators is to be made from a “direct choice,” that is, not by “the suffrage of the majority of the whole number of persons [electing].”
While states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire already have “direct choice” voting systems (in combination with voter ID laws that exclude a portion of the population), the federal government is about to start an unprecedented experiment with direct election of senators.
A number of states have already enacted voter identification laws that require ID to vote, but there are a few other states that are considering implementing similar versions of voter ID laws to reduce, if not eliminate, the influence of the Democratic Party. This proposal to use the federal government to implement a system to select senators is, as you can guess, a popular cause among the left-wing activists who see it as a way to reduce the power of the Senate and the influence the Democratic Party has — or should have, given the power to change the rules the party now has — in the Senate.
As Common Dreams outlined in 2011, the Federal Government has been granted the power to determine “the number, nature, and method of selection” of its members for over 200 years, according to the Constitution’s “Rule of Appointments.”
With that power comes special responsibilities related to the people’s representatives and how the federal government is controlled.
As Common Dreams has reported, the process in a number of states and territories has been hijacked by a powerful interest group, which has succeeded in preventing the public from having a say and in imposing their will through an unfair and secretive process.
The system is, in these areas, highly susceptible to abuse, often by interest groups without any meaningful power, and, in most cases, using money, manipulation of the process, and intimidation to achieve their goals.
One such example is the so-called “Reform” or “Conservative” Party in the former territories of the United States, which came to power in a series of high-profile elections and have been successful in controlling elections for federal offices such