Now we’ve found the nugget of your misperception, that Senators were invented to represent you. Under the original Constitution, they were to represent the states in order to be a source of further balance of power. I’d recommend a read of Mark Levin’s latest book.
ISTR the 17th was pushed by the early progressives and that it was designed to weaken state powers (T-Bird’s “they were to represent the states in order to be a source of further balance of power”) and centralize power at the federal level.
There is a “cluster” of amendments passed in the early 20th century by progressives flexing their muscles. And that has led to where we are now — a strong fedgov that is leading to a Chavez-like elected (wannabe) dictator.
One could make a valid argument that the concept of strong state powers ceased with the Civil War.