“Given the fact that the federal government has discarded the constitution as their operating document, what difference does one amendment or another make?”
This is more true then you know, prior to the 17th amendment being radifyed in 1913 a number of state did effectively have a popularly elected senate Washington State was one of them if memory serves.
In that case the States simply had an election and then the state legislators was simply obliged to follow thou with that election.
No solution is perfect but repealing the 17th and restoring the Senate to its original electoral motivation of protection the power of the State legislators in Washington D.C. is better then what has happen to us sense.
Of course we have to figure out a better way to help people remember and understand:
1: The critical Structural function of the Senate in our Federal System.
2: The motivation of senators in fulfilling their function being more reliably established when they are elected by those who’s power they would be protecting.
The Founders were much wiser people then we are they set up the senate with this spesfic function for good reasons. Although it was not prefect it function a lot better then what we have had sense we broke their system.
The more I've learned about the founding fathers (good and bad) as well as seeing the effects of where the federal government has overstepped the constitution gives me a new appreciation for the genius of what they put down in the constitution. It wasn't perfect, but it is far better than what our politicians have rendered it down to...and then discarded altogether. Now we have a speaker of the house like Pelosi, who when asked what provision of the constitution supported their laws laughed in the face of the questioner. Or you have congressman Pete Stark respond to a similar question asking what limits the federal government has from the constitution...he replied they could do pretty much anything they want to.
I encourage everyone to vote in November, but I have a feeling that it's just too little too late and more like window dressing and rearranging of chairs on the deck of the titanic. But until the ship goes down, by all means keep bailing...but it looks like the whole is too big and we're taking on too much water...and it also looks like some of the crew is attempting to sabotage the efforts of those trying to bail.