I’m a silly person? You are seriously suggesting that had the 17th amendment not been ratified that the make up of the legislature of SC would be exactly the same and Jesse Helms would be considering a career in office? I don’t even know where to begin at how silly that is.
First of all, Jesse Helms was from NC, not SC.
Second, do you really believe that voters in NC magically would have voted for Republicans for the state legislature throughout the 20th century just because the legislators elect U.S. Senators? That 17th-Amendment repeal sure is magical! Would it have helped Aramis Ramirez catch that foul popup in the 2003 NLCS? Because that would have been awesome—imagine, the Cubs in the World Series! You’ve convinced me, I won’t engage in rank speculation such as thinking that the myriad causes that resulted in North Carolinians voting Democrat for the state legislature over a 130-year period would not have evaporated instantly with the repeal of the 17th Amendment; I instead will limit my assumptions to things that logically follow, such as the elimination of all social ills and a new birth of freedom in the nation the second that those noble patriots in the state legislatures once again are entrusted with the election of U.S. Senators.