Change of the U.S. Constitution we can believe in

by Will Bunch | Columnist

Published Jan. 26, 2009, 10:33 p.m. ET

Any amendment to the Constitution isn't something that should be undertaken lightly. What's more, I believe this problem was resolved with the 17th Amendment -- but apparently it wasn't. So I wholeheartedly endorse this proposal by Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, a new constitutional amendment to require special elections to fill any future U.S. Senate vacancy:

"The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end.

— In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators.

"One man, one vote" is one thing, but one man, all the votes is a complete farce. The wheeling and dealing of Illinois' Rod Blagojevich and the Caroline Kennedy follies in New York were an embarassment to American democracy -- the sooner this unnecessary tradition of gubernatorial appointments ends, the better.