Sunday, January 29, 2006

They Know More????

Apparently part of the justification for the Utah Senate's desire for a "soft repeal" of the 17th Amendment is simply a belief in the Utah Senate of "we know more."

Yes, it is kind amusing that a group that just past legislation to teach intelligent design is claiming some type of higher knowledge. Looking behind the humor, SB156 shows that the Senators themselves lack basick knowledge of the American experiment with democracy.

Anyway, with SB156, the Utah Senate hopes to gain the power to appoint candidates for the US Senate. The Utah Senate would choose two candidates and the Utah Voters would select the most Republican of the two.

Certainly, the Utah Senate is in a much better position to scrutinize a candidate. However, the point of Democracy is not simply about one's knowledge. It is all about one's perspective. The people living in Utah are in a better position to reflect the perspective of Utah than the state legislature.

Regardless of how much the Utah State Senators know, their vote reflects the perspective of politicians who have power. This perspective is less representative of the state of Utah than a direct primary from the people.

The "we know more argument" is even weaker when we remember that the group that elects a politician is the politician's constituency. SB156 effectively transfers the selection of Utah's Senators from the people to the legislature. When this happens Utahns stop being the constituency of their US Senator. The individual State Legislators become the Senator's constituency.

Even if the Utah Legislators really did "know more", SB156 would still be a bad deal for Utahs, because the bill changes the consituency of or US Senators.

Once again, SB156 really shows low quality thinking and I go to bed feeling sad to live in such an intellectual abyss as Utah.

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