Since some of these respondants present the case better than I am able, I suggest you read some of their commentary here:
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/08/26/repeal-the-17th-problems-to-address/
I particularly enjoyed the one written by a Mr. Gordon Johnson
Here at the blog I have linked to, I find that there are good arguments on both sides of the issue; however, I still favor a repeal of the 17th Amendment - and its REPLACEMENT with language that would address the particulars of the two camps - something I think to be not too difficult.
The article itself makes it pretty plain, the 17th isn’t going anywhere at this point. These debates we have here on a frequent basis are academic. I think our energies would be better spent on finding other ways to reign in big government.
I’ve suggested that anyone employed by the federal government (exclusive of military/law enforcement) or those receiving government payments (taxpayers money, again exclusive of payments they themselves have put in) should forfeit their right to vote until such time they are no longer employed in such or receiving said payments.
Another suggestion is repeal of civil service and a return to patronage. Trash in, trash out, so to speak. You come in with an administration for 4 or 8 years, and you leave with it. No lifelong sinecures. We have armies of left-leaning bureaucrats proliferating ever larger government with each day, insulated from reality (from the taxpayers, from market downturns). D.C. and its environs continue to live in a perpetual environment of Nirvana, and are directly responsible for our being almost $20 trillion in debt with liabilities that are multiples of that. This is frightening beyond anything, especially what repeal of the 17th would be able to accomplish even under the most idealistic of fantasies.