This article entitled, "The Continuing Fall of Federalism", was written by George Will for The Wasington Post. Mr. Will wrote this article to express his view on Wisconsin Senator Feingold's attempt to amend the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. Which sets parameters on how Senators are to be elected by popular vote instead of being chosen by state legislatures. In Feinglod's bill he wanted the language changed so that in the event of a vacancy of a Senate seat the replacement would be chosen in a popular election, rather than temporarily filled by a govenor. This article is aimed at people who want the current form of the Constitution to stay the way it was meant to be when it was written by the framers.
What Mr. Will is trying to explain is that lawmakers are slowly changing the meaning of the Constitution away from what it was originally suppose to mean. Within the Constitution there is a system built in that checks and balances the powers of the government and addresses the relationship that the federal government and state governments will have. Mr. Will believes that by changing these checks takes away from the original intent of the Constitution and puts too much of the responsibility on popular vote. He says in the article that this is slowly chipping away at a federalist based system that helped keep everything in check. e says in the article that originally the Senate seats were filled by state legislatures, the House seats by popular election, and the executive branch by the electoral college. He believes that by putting more of the power of election of national government in the hands of the people, it takes away from the power and check on power of the federal government.
