In Georgia, six state representatives are standing in opposition to the 17th Amendment by introducing a resolution to repeal it.

If there is one thing the right likes to do, it’s talk about how much they love the Constitution. Just the other day I was driving down the road here in Tennessee when I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Defend the Constitution before it’s too weak to defend you.” But apparently that love for the Constitution only applies to certain parts of it (like the Second Amendment).

Apparently, there is no love lost for the 17th Amendment among the GOP. For a refresher, the 17th Amendment states as follows:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Basically, the amendment allows for the election of U.S. Senators via popular vote. Up until the amendment was passed, the state legislatures elected Senators, which meant the elections were rife with corruption. As you can imagine, it’s much easier to buy a Senate seat, and a guaranteed six years in office barring some major incident, when you only have to campaign to a small audience like the state legislature and not the actual residents of the entire state. On top of that, legislatures are notorious for not agreeing on anything, and that sometimes meant they couldn’t agree on Senators, either.

And thus the reasons for the adoption of the 17th Amendment. For the last 100 years, it has been in the hands of the voter to decide who represents them, and not the state government. Who could possibly be opposed to that?

The GOP, that’s who. Over the years there have been various calls to repeal the 17th Amendment coming from the right wing. Most recently, six Republican Georgia state representatives have introduced a resolution to do just that. The author of the resolution, Kevin Cooke, says that it is not so much a repeal of a Constitutional amendment, but a “restoration of the Constitution” to the way it was intended to work by the Founding Fathers.

Why the opposition to the 17th Amendment? Some will tell you that it is all about restoring states rights. Others will tell you it’s not about repealing the 17th Amendment, but about restoring the 10th Amendment, which limits the power of the Federal government to those granted by the Constitution. Others say it’s about making sure that the people chosen to represent a state actually participate in the community and know the people and their political wishes.

That all sounds fine and dandy, but at the end of the day, we are talking about stripping the voting rights of the American public. It’s already bad enough that we have to deal with the electoral college in presidential elections, but to take the vote away from the individual when it comes to choosing Senators is unreasonable. After all, there is a reason that an amendment, that most difficult of legislative processes, was passed. We needed it.

So what is the real story here? Why does the GOP really want to repeal the 17th Amendment? Think about this. Their party is in trouble. Their jobs are at stake. It is getting harder and harder for them to convince the American public that their platform is fine the way it is, and they refuse to change at all. They know they are going to need to win support from minorities if they wish to keep any power they have. With Hispanics such as myself now making up the largest minority in the country and expected to grow to over 30% of the population by 2050, no political party has the luxury of ignoring us, especially not the GOP if they want to keep traditionally red states. Since 1980, the Republican party has lost major ground as the growing minority population turns more and more states purple.

So you see, it’s really very simple. It’s all about keeping power through that tried and true method–the “good ol’ boys club.” When it comes to keeping power, even a 100 year old Constitutional amendment can find itself in their target.