George Will really doesn’t like Russ Feingold. Will’s latest column attacks Feingold’s proposed constitutional amendment, which would require elections to fill vacant Senate seats, and which the HPR will be analyzing in its upcoming issue.
Will starts off by smearing Feingold’s proposal as “vandalism against the Constitution,” and says that Feingold is trying to “tamper” with our founding document. This is lunacy. By Will’s reasoning, the Constitution must provide for its own “vandalism,” because Article V lays out the very amendment procedure that Feingold is following.
Will again betrays his misunderstanding of our constitutional system when he says that Feingold is trying to “impose Wisconsin’s preference [for electing, not appointing, its senators] on the other 46 [states].” I guess Will is unaware that constitutional amendments require approval by three-fourths of the states, either by their legislatures or by state conventions. Feingold isn’t “imposing” anything.
Moreover, the problem with waiting for each state to pass its own law banning senatorial appointments is not that it would be “tediously time-consuming,” which is the view that Will imputes to Feingold. The problem is that governors can veto those laws, and would be likely to do so, since the power to appoint a senator is a pretty nifty one to have. Whereas constitutional amendments are ratified by state legislatures, which don’t have this conflict of interest.
These errors should be enough for any one column, but with Will, the hits keep on coming. For Will does not just argue against Feingold’s amendment, he argues for repealing the 17th amendment itself. You see, when senators were elected by state legislatures, everything was perfect! You had Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster, and oh yes, John C. Calhoun, a man who so loved the constitutional order that Will does not understand that he wanted to nullify it. And look at what has happened since we started with that whole direct election thing: We’ve gotten Joe McCarthy, and Russ Feingold! Yes, John Calhoun is the senatorial ideal, but Russ Feingold is a latter-day Joe McCarthy. This from one of the “smart” conservative writers.
Will is on quite a roll. His previous column was full of falsehoods. Thankfully, today’s column is only rife with misunderstanding, idiotic comparisons, and senseless longing for the good ole days of limited democracy.