“Repeal the 17th amendment and revert to state legislatures electing Senators, then we can START the conversation.”\
The buckets of dog crap who pass for state legislators in Colorado would probably elect Whoopie Goldberg.
I fully understand your “Whoopi Goldberg” concern, and it does have merit as an argument against. The theory is, state legislators are much more closely accountable to their constituents and the legislature elected Senators would become more accountable for Congressional action affecting their state. Congress passing unfunded mandates for the states should be much harder to pass. We can’t stop it if a state wants to populate its legislature with a bunch of idiots. But this way, they have to elect a bunch of them to screw up, not just one or two to the US Senate.
A bigger issue is individual Senators selling out the interests of their constituents to rich donors. It can still happen, but makes it less likely. IMHO. one of the single most destructive practice is Senators selling out the interests of their constituents and the nation. While certainly not foolproof, the founding fathers were right about legislative election and it makes a lot of sense to me.