Essay Contest Winner
Michelle Budd
Parkville Campus Center

"Should the rules of the U.S. Senate be changed to eliminate the power of the minority to prevent the majority from acting?"

In September 1787, delegates of the Constitutional Convention signed into law a revolutionary document, one which began "We the People." The Constitution of the United States established a system of government in which the common people held the power and guaranteed that the United States would be a nation Lincoln would later describe as "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

"We the People" includes citizens from every background imaginable, a rainbow-hued citizenry heralding a diversity virtually unheard of before or since. Our great melting pot draws strength from its diversity, just as an alloy is stronger than any single one of its components. Every citizen has opportunity, liberty, and most importantly, a voice in the governing of our nation.

A citizen's voice in the Senate is his or her Senator, a person whose ideals and values mirror those whom he or she represents and who fights for those ideals and values. Although these represented ideals and values may not be those of the perceived majority, they are still those of a part of the "We" in "We the People."

The power of the minority to prevent the majority from acting ensures that no Americans are silenced, that all Americans have the power of a voice. Indeed, it is this power which has wrought the greatest changes in our system – from Women's Suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement. Taking such power from the minority would silence their voice and stagnate our system, thereby weakening our country.

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