sir,
you are indeed correct..
i was out of line...
you did not deserve to be called the names i called you, nor did you deserve to be treated the way i treated you..
i humbly apologize for my rudeness and inconsideration...
Apology accepted. I think you and I probably agree 99% on everything else.
My basic thing here is that I’m not a fan of having politicians choose my elected officials (Senators, in this case). In my state of TN, the legislature is one of the few that elects other statewide offices (Secretary of State, Treasurer) and we have the single-most bizarre selection process for Attorney General, where the State Supreme Court “elects” that officer (and for a long 8-year term).
You end up with a situation of unaccountability with these officers, and most egregiously with our state AG (which was until recently, Democrat for 140 years since Reconstruction — and they were infamous in recent decades for being Democrat party hacks that excused Democrat chicanery and one went straight from his office to work for Al Gore).
If I believed repeal of the 17th would get us back to better governance and better quality people in the U.S. Senate, I’d wholeheartedly support it. Unfortunately, these days, you’d end up with people whose single mission it would be to loot what little is left of the U.S. Treasury on behalf of their states (at this point, they do not even have the common courtesy of leaving an I.O.U.).
We want giants in our elected officials, and we end up with mental and moral midgets, and that’s the real shame.