>> “Is that relevant to the general underlying intention of the founders that the Senate be representative of the States themselves?”
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> I do have one more argument. Are the states represented by the small bands of crooks hoisted into offices by their government-connected kingpins, or by all of the people of each of the states?
A very good argument; but I think that strays a little bit too much into the State’s own business — to declare that a State cannot [mis]manage itself would be tantamount to repealing the tenth amendment, no?
This is to say, that if the States are not free to abuse their own freedoms, then those freedoms don’t actually exist... just like an individual’s right to print doesn’t exist if there’s a special government approval that needs to be obtained via license. Or, in philosophical terms, “limited freewill” cannot exist: for if the choice was constrained to exclude the evilest of choices then it is no longer free but constrained to what evil is allowed by the constraining entity.