[cripplecreek]

Unfortunately, passage of the 17th Amendment has undermined this aspect of Publius’s argument. The Senators no longer represent the States; they are direct representatives of the people (just as the House is).

The biggest problem with the 17th amendment is the fact that senators are elected by popular vote. If they were elected on an electoral type of system by house districts won I think things would look very different.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Senators are meant to represent their state legislatures.

That's who they should be elected by.

[suijuris]

The biggest problem with the 17th amendment is the fact that senators are elected by popular vote. If they were elected on an electoral type of system by house districts won I think things would look very different.

The 17th Amendment resulted in the US senators becoming whores. Most receive the majority of their campaign donations from outside their home state. The last time I looked into this was in the 1990s senator Voinovich was number one in in out-of-state campaign donations and John McCain was number 2. I would like to see the stats now. No doubt McCain is still near the top of the list. The last 40 years have proven that your average dumb ass voter is easily swayed by massive campaign bombardment of lies and bullshit. Partly explains why Arizona keeps re-electing the rabid SOB.