The US senator - selection and role - Research Paper Example

? (Assignment) The US Senator- Selection and Role The US Senate is called the Upper House of the United s Congress. Every hastwo senators irrespective of its geographical area or population. The US Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, Washington. The Senate enjoys a lot of nationally important powers; regarding approval of treaties, cabinet secretaries, military officers and federal judges and many more. The US Senator- History of election Elections to the Senate are conducted on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November in even-numbered years. Each state of the US is represented by two senators. Before 1913, senators were selected by the legislatures of each state. However, after the 17th Amendment, popular election was made mandatory. The one who wins the highest number of votes is considered the winner. Before the 17th Amendment, Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution allowed each state to select two senators. It seems that the purpose of the legislation makers was to enable the senators to function free from any pressure the part of public. However, problems soon came up. For instance, the conflict between Democrats and Republican Party resulted in vacant senator seat in Indiana for two years. This was followed by innumerous cases of bribery and other unlawfulness. It was in 1911 that Senator Joseph Bristow suggested an amendment of the constitution that won huge support. As a result, the 17th amendment took birth which starts “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators fro each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years…” (US Constitution Amendment-17). Arguments both for and against the 17th amendment There are arguments against the decision to elect Senators by popular vote. One among them is that the senators elected by the state legislature will be more interested in protecting the interests and autonomy of the state than the ones elected by people. The ground for this opinion seems to be the assumption that state-elected senators will be more interested in protecting the power of the state legislature and that the people-elected ones may lead to the strengthening of federal power over states, thus damaging the federal set up in the long term. However, this opinion seems baseless as most popularly elected senators would have been elected as senators even without any amendment. So the assumption that the 17th amendment had any effect on the federal power seems baseless. Again, the assumption that state always opposes the federal power is baseless. In fact, it is a well-acknowledged fact that states are always on the run for more federal grants and are always dependent on it. However, certainly there are serious set backs of this amendment. Basic qualifications required to become a Senator There are three basic requirements put forward by Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution. Firstly, the senator should be aged 30 years or more and secondly, the person should be a citizen of the United States for the past nine years and thirdly, should be presently residing in the state he or she wants to contest in. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution introduces provision to remove any senator who has acted against the State. Term of Service and benefits Each senator shall serve for a staggered six years term. However, the senators are divided into three classes in the senate and the service of one class expires after every two years. So, the election to one-third of the positions comes every two years. Each senator enjoys a lot of benefits starting from an annual salary of $ 174,000. In addition, they receive retirement and health benefits on retirement which are similar to other federal employees. The Senators representing state attitude The state division in the US is very crucial in the national politics. In such a huge country, it seems an impossible proposition to divide the national data and find state-wise patterns. Hence, giving the states equal representation in the Senate through their senators is the best way to know the public attitudes in a particular state. In addition, it is natural that a state with two almost equal parties will have two senators from two different parties while the states where one party has upper hand will have two senators from the same party, thus revealing the trend in the state to a great extent. Issues associated with the election of senators There are very serious issues connected with the popular election of US Senators as against the appointment by state legislatures. First of all, the election requires a lot of funding and it becomes impossible for a commoner to contest in the election. If a commoner wants to compete in the election, he is being forced to accept funds for television advertisements and other public campaigns. After winning the election in this way, he only acts to fulfill the requirements of the big wigs who offered financial support. In fact, in such a system, only the rich can contest and if a commoner enters the field, he is already in the pockets of vested interests. Thus, though this system was introduced to make the election more democratic, in reality, it only gives the influential people a chance to influence government functions. Policy positions of senators- an overview Being the sole representatives of a state in the federal government, senators have the responsibility to bring benefits for their state by casting vote for things their states want. They are also supposed to oppose laws which are not in favor of their state. The policy positions of senators in the House are supposed to be devoid of ay political influence. However, in practice, it is seen that there are many other influences on a senator than the interests of his state. Problems associated with the functioning of the Senate A number of problems can be observed in the functioning of the senate. First of all, the political affiliations and personal interests of the senators prevent them from effectively using filibuster to oppose a bill that is against the state they represent. It is also observed that even senior senators have no interest in prolonged discussions; instead, they prefer cloture voting. The longest filibuster speech was delivered by Strom Thurmond, who continued his speech for more than 24 hours. This seems the most irrational way of protest in a democratic nation. Yet another serious flaw is visible in the fact that there is no rule regarding the content of speeches the senators deliver. In reality, speeches which are not germane to the matter of discussion are a total waste of the nation’s time. The voting tendency of Senators as evident from studies The term ‘cloture voting’ means closing of a debate in the Senate by calling for a vote. It is seen that both senior and junior senators tend to prefer cloture voting and abhor discussions. As Binder and Smith (115) observe, there is a rise in partisan and narrow-minded use of filibuster which reduced the quality of the decision making environment of the senate. Steven D Levitt (425) points out that while deciding whether to vote for or against a bill, a senator must consider many factors; the interest of overall voters, electorate, individual constituencies within the electorate, influence of party leaders and own personal view; and it was revealed that the importance given to voter preference was just 25 percent while the most important factor that influences the voting pattern of the senator was the senator’s own ideology. Another factor that has influence is the national party line. It is also revealed that senators tend to become more responsive to electorate preferences as the election becomes nearer (Levitt 427). The way a Senator should function It can be concluded that being the sole representative of the state, Senators have the responsibility to function taking into account the requirements of the state. It is only with this view that the selection of senators is not done through state legislature appointment. However, the huge expenses involved in the election campaign gave the vested interests a chance to sponsor candidates thus making sure that their interests are well-protected. So, it is highly necessary to enact rules limiting the money that can be spent on election campaigns. Senators have the moral responsibility to make sure that the interests of their people are protected as people have elected them with a lot of expectations. Works Cited Binder, Sarah A. and Smith, Steven S. Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the United States Senate. Brookings Institution Press, 1997. Print. U. S. Constitution- Amendment 17. U. S. Constitution Online. Web. 25 Jan 2011 Levit, Steven D. ‘How do senators vote? Disentangling the role of voter preferences, party affiliation ad senator ideology’, The American Economic Review, Volume 86, (3), June 1996, p. 425-427. 25 Jan 2011 Read More