Haskell County, Kansas is named for Dudley C. Haskell (March 23, 1842 – December 16, 1883), a politician.
To me, one of the most interesting county names is Clark County, Nevada (county seat: Las Vegas). It is named after William Andrews Clark, a Montana copper and railroad magnate (who had a railroad built going through the county, and the locals were grateful. Remember that in the 19th century, U.S. senators were selected by the state. In 1899, Clark became senator from Montana, but before he was seated, it was shown that he had bribed the state legislators to select him. His bribery was so egregious that the Senate refused to seat him.
He tried again in 1901, and this time was apparently more discrete, since bribery could not be shown this time. He served one term in the Senate; where (in the words of Sir William Gilbert), he did nothing in particular, but did it very well.
Mark Twain described Clark:
He is as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag; he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a ball and chain on his legs. To my mind he is the most disgusting creature that the republic has produced since Tweed's time
Clark's election to the Senate was a major reason for the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for direct election of senators.
There are idiot Tea Partiers (but I repeat myself) who want to abolish the 17th Amendment. I'll bet they never heard of the concept of "Chesterton's Fence". Simply put, it's the principle that you should never remove something unless you know why it was put in.
From G. K. Chesterton's 1929 book,
The Thing:
In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.
The 17th Amendment came about for a reason, something the Tea Partiers clearly don't know. I've also wondered about a group that claims to want to take power away from the government and give it back to the people wanting to take power away from the people and give it to the government.
= new reply since forum marked as read
