Perhaps there is no solution to an out-of-control, bought and paid for US Senate, backed when necessary by rogue judges. That just might be the downfall of the nation.
What brought on direct election of Senators was state legislators corrupted (supposedly!) by the Railroads and Robber Barons (Term used at the time!).
There will always be corruption, the only thing you can do is try to keep a lid on it & limit it the best you can.
I don’t know about that...let’s face it, CA will still find a way to choose two nutcases, as will NY, MA, IL, NJ, and the rest of the usual suspects...;)
Why is that a problem? The people of the State are the ones who elected their legislature, so, in selecting US Senators from the party which controls the state legislature, that would be perfectly reasonable.
If the 17th amendment were not in effect, and the original method of selecting US Senators were in effect, the US Senate would have about 66 Republicans by virtue of the fact that the GOP controls 33 state legislatures—32 bicameral legislatures and one unicameral legislature (Nebraska)—and President Trump would have a strong governing majority in the Senate to implement his agenda.
Repeal of the 17th would be one of my biggest motivations for supporting a convention of states. There should definitely be a push for this among conservatives, and it's a perfect example of the reason that excessive democracy can be counterproductive.
Instead of having a majority in the Senate which is proportional to the composition of the state legislatures, an ego-driven, corruption-riddled situation has evolved—one which easily exceeds negative reasons for which the 17th Amendment was ostensibly adopted in the first place.
Additionally—as chauvinist as it sounds and, indeed, is—there's no doubt that this nation would be in better shape for conservatism if women didn't have the right to vote. It's obvious—in general—that they are simply more susceptible to emotional manipulation than men. I wish to God it weren't true, but it's undeniable. Sorry, girls.
I know that there are a lot of conservative women out there, but the ones that aren't are just destroying this country by allowing emotion to dictate their voting preferences. Indeed, without women, the modern Democratic party wouldn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning. Flame suit on.
But at least it would force their voters to become more engaged in state government politics. And if current GOP control of most state legislatures could translate into super-majorities in the US Senate, future congresses would be controlled by conservatives and libs would be thrown into the fringe dustbin where they belong.
Of course, there's no equivalency between true conservatives and the phony GOPe of today, so it will be a generational struggle to re-educate the public.