Abolish the Senate???

"Whereas the Senate in particular has become an obstructive and useless body, a menace to the liberties of the people, and an obstacle to social growth; a body, many of the Members of which are representatives neither of a State nor of its people, but solely of certain predatory combinations, and a body which, by reason of the corruption often attending the election of its Members, has furnished the gravest public scandals in the history of the nation. . . ."

Preamble to a constitutional amendment introduced in the House of Representatives on April 27, 1911, by Victor Berger of Wisconsin

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dancingtongue · 80-89, M

@helenS They also had the British system as a model (sans the King): Members of Parliament elected; House of Lords appointed/hereditary. And under the terms of the original Constitution, U.S. Senators were chosen by the State Legislatures for 6 year terms. This was done to (1) build buy in from the smaller states as a check on the popular vote-driven House, (2) temper the more short-term views of the House with three-times the job security, while (3) avoiding the life-long permanence of the Roman Senate and the House of Lords. So the Senate originally was a move towards being more democratic than the Roman and British models, but later changed to direct election by voters.

MethDozer · M

@dancingtongue Exactly. The Senate was always intended to be the branch of congress to represent money and aristocracy. It is just our version if the House of Lords as you stated.