The 17th Amendment took away one of the best checks against the expansion of the 17th Amendment. The Progressives infiltrated the State governments and so you had the unusual circumstance of the States fighting to lose the ability to check the Congress’s authority. This country is still feeling the affects of this amendment. Together with the 16th Amendment, the 17th Amendment gave the Congress the ability to become the pork puking monster it is today.
It was a fatal error. Our Republic will not survive unless it is repealed, along with about 6 or 7 additional key countermeasures.