Over several Texas State Republican Convention cycles, I and others have proposed repealing the 17th and 16th Amendments. Two years ago, at the 2022 Rockwall County Republican Convention, my proposal to repeal the 17th Amendment was defeated by someone I have known for over 40 years. At the 2024 county convention, his arguments again defeated my proposal.
I was less troubled by my friend’s opposition to my proposal than by the fact that my fellow delegates, fellow Rockwall County Republicans, voted to deny it. I violated an important adage: never assume others know what you know.
The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The following day, a lady asked Dr. Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy—A republic, replied the Doctor, if you can keep it.“
This year, more than ever before, the top elected representatives of our state and our federation declared a goal to protect our democracy. These include President Joe Biden, Senator John Cornyn, and even Senator Ted Cruz. Ted memorized the U.S. Constitution and can quote it verbatim. He has, on occasion, described our federal government as a democracy.
I want to say our federal government is not a democracy, but I would be disingenuous. The Paul Simon song Slip Slidin’ Away speaks for my point of view on constitutional atrophy threatening the existence of our country.
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
Unconstitutional laws and anti-federation amendments have us on a trajectory away from the republican form of government toward a democracy. Why do I eschew democracy?
“Actually, in its essence, democracy is a totalitarian ideology, though not as extreme as Nazism, fascism or communism. In principle, no freedom is safe in a democracy, every aspect of the individual’s life is potentially subject to government control. At the end of the day, the minority is completely at the mercy of the whims of the majority. Even if a democracy has a constitution limiting the powers of the government, this constitution too can be amended by the majority. The only fundamental right you have in a democracy, besides running for office, is the right to vote for a political party. With that solitary vote you hand over your independence and your freedom to the will of the majority.”
Frank Karsten, Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government
Original Intent
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.” U.S. Constitution, Article IV, section 4
Search the entire Constitution, and you will find no instances of the words democrat, democracy, or democratic.
- What is the republican form of government? The republican form of government established under the Constitution is one in which citizens elect others to represent their interests.
- What is a state? A state is a politically unified people occupying a definite territory. Texas, for example.
- What is our country? Our country is a union of 50 sovereign states, the District of Columbia, two commonwealths: Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and various territories. The name of our country is the United States of America (USA).
The USA is a federation of sovereign states. A federal government holds authority over interstate engagements and national defense. State governments hold authority over the state’s social, legal, and commercial engagements.
The first national interaction was a confederacy (anti-federal) government in which each state had one representative. Today, we call this representative a senator from Anglo-French, Latin senātor, equivalent to sen(ātus), “council of elders.”
The confederacy proved ineffective in many important ways, chiefly because the 13 states varied in geographical dimensions and populations. The Constitutional Convention of 1789 addressed these issues. The new federation provides representation of the individual states (the Senate) and representation of the varied populations of the states (the House of Representatives), as defined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
In November 1789, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin wrote to his friend Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, a French scientist, “Our new Constitution is now established; everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
Moving On
Despite my proposition to repeal the 17th Amendment failed in my Rockwall County Convention, other delegates to the State Republican Convention have won the support of their county conventions. I refer the reader to the Platform and Resolutions as Amended and Adopted by the 2022 State Convention of the Republican Party of Texas, Constitutional Issues, page 4, plank 19, Amendments to the US Constitution: Support restoring state sovereignty with the repeal of the 17th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the appointment of United States Senators by the state legislatures.
In 2022, I said to my friend this will be in the [2022] platform. It is. It will be, again.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 