Repealing the 17th would simply move the corruption to the respective state assemblies. The effect of influence peddling, election fraud, etc by special interests - such as the MIC - would remain unchanged. That is, the current roster of senators wouldn’t change a bit.
However, the larger issue isn’t the so-called swamp, corruption, etc. It’s that the entire basis of the country is now dependent on the status quo. No one with any ambition would pursue a military career without the prospect of advancement. Promotion and advancement come from opportunities aka war/conflict. The wider the US global footprint, the greater the chance for military intervention, thus the greater opportunity for career advancement.
As an example, look how the British military absolutely withered once the empire receded after WWII. No one with any brains goes in for the military in the UK nowadays - it’s all about finance in the City. The fear of having a career destroyed by reducing the number of bases, and “bringing the boys home”, has the military opposed to ending endless war. And of course the defense contractors are in lock step - millions of jobs - and $trillions of dollars - are dependent on a continued US global presence.
You don't realize the Republicans would have a super majority in the Senate right now sans the 17th. Ignorance is bliss I guess.
Here is my boilerplate response to this point:
As far as the House goes, they benefit from the party donor structure put in place to fund the biennial Senate elections. I theorize that there would be a slow decay of House funding if nationalized funding networks to support Senate elections goes away, or at least what goes away is a Speaker who controls disbursements to favored candidates if there is no longer a central pot to draw from.
I think the difference is that they are corrupt for their own state interests.It's easier to manage 50 corruptions localized to their individual states, instead of the collusion of corruption at the federal level that is nationalized.
At least with the states, you have the self-interests of the other 49 states to balance the corruption of a runaway state. National corruption ends with weaponizing the arms of government against its people in order to protect the establishment.
At the very least, doing away with the elections will dry up the existing money spigots, such as McConnell's NRSC or Schumer's counterpart. They will have to rebuild new power networks to replace it, since it would be harder for Senate leaders to use national money to influence state appointments.
Also, end 33 of the most expensive elections that occur every two years, and we also stop the flow of money from the donors to the media, laundered through the Senate campaigns.
Kill the MSM beast by repealing the 17th amendment and cutting off the cash flow to the MSM.
-PJ