If you go to my essay on federalism, you'll see what the Progressives were pushing for: the secret ballot, open primaries, giving the vote to women, and the direct election of senators.
Weren't 'Progressives' in that era different from what we call progressives today?
What is interesting is that all the 17th Amendment really accomplished was to move the locus of corruption from the state legislatures to Washington. In effect, the 17th Amendment created K St.
Precisely and it makes perfect sense.
Don't you think that state populations today would benefit from having their state legislatures linked to their US Senators?
Should the 17th Amendment be repealed? Certainly. The state legislatures should be able to appoint senators, and if the houses of the state legislature can't agree, then the governor should appoint. They should be eligible for recall by the state legislature if they ignore their instructions from the legislature.
Will the repeal of the 17th be ratified? Not likely. This is just politics, not principle.
For that reason, an Amendments Convention should address the issue of state nullification, and replacing the Supreme Court with the chief justices of the 50 state supreme courts to meet via the Internet to decide cases.
BTW, read my essay.