Before the 17th Amendment, each State Legislature chose its State's Senators. Do you believe gubernatorial appointment is better than legislative selection?
Everything else in your post is dead on.
Thank you for pointing that out. It’s one of my pet peeves. The 17th knocked the wind out of the 10th. No one in congress cares about the migration of state authority into congress any more. Now the only entity in washington that has any incentive to uphold the Tenth is the supreme court. That our country is upside down can be witnessed by noting the amount due on our state and federal tax forms are reversed from what they should be.