A Constitutional Blunder
The US Senate was indeed a unique social engineering invention. Its function was to allow each state to represent its own interest in Congress. So each state, by its own legislative process, elected or appointed its own two senaters to serve for a six-year term in Washington D.C. Note that neither the public had a direct say in the selection of the senator nor could the national capital appoint such a person. The decision was made at the state legislature. Thus the senate countered the populist mindset in the House of Representative, which was elected by popular vote. The founding fathers recognized that democracy in its purest form could give rise to a mob mentality, and the Senate — by being state-focused and having a longer term to think past the next election — was regarded as an important check-and-balance to both the House and the President. No other nation had a concept like this at that time.
Then in 1912, the 17th amendment to the US Constitution passed. This allowed the senators to be elected by popular vote from citizens of the state. The selection responsibility had been taken away from state legislatures.
With this change, it became easier for Congress to set up national programs for issues that more related to state rights as defined by the constitution. For example, the federal government would offer a financial incentive to all states to adopt a national…
