"Equal Suffrage" means equal representation, and the 17th amendment did not change that. It only changed the method of choosing Senators, not the number of them per state.
-PJ
LOL. That is a bit of statist political sophistry. The question is not how many Senators constitute equal suffrage. The question is who gets to pick them. In article V the word "state" does not mean the demos of the state. It means the same thing that the word "state" means everywhere else in the constitution. It means the state legislatures.
Where did you read that suffrage means representation? It doesn't. Suffrage means the right to vote.
suffrage (ˈsʌfrɪdʒ) n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the right to vote, esp in public elections; franchise
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the exercise of such a right; casting a vote
3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a supporting vote
4. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a prayer, esp a short intercessory prayer
It totally destroyed the "equality of representation" at the federal level between that of the people and that of the states. This destruction removed the safeguard of the states interest in defense of the people's interest. They went hand in hand as a double protection against federal over reach. The 17th destroyed one hand and smashed the other into crippled use such that today, though we have the right to vote, we have no representation.