The Saucer is as Hot as the Tea

WASHINGTON – The only sound visitors hear on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol on an early Sunday morning is the click of heels on the marble floor, echoing off the 20-foot ceiling. Hard to imagine that, less than 100 years ago, the men serving here weren’t elected by voters. “That is because the Framers did not want two chambers to be controlled by the frenzy of popular opinion,” said Senate historian Donald Ritchie. From 1789 to 1912, senators were elected by state legislatures. That changed in 1913 with ratification of the Constitution's 17th Amendment. The Senate joined the...