A Democratic Republic...

One of Tamara's posts over at View From The Porch today tackles an interesting question, to wit, was the Seventeenth Amendment a Good Idea?

Most will probably say "yes". I'm not so sure, although I have long had difficulty articulating my misgivings. Tamara does an excellent job of doing so.

Similarly, while many call for the abolition of the Electoral College, calling for the President to be selected by a direct popular vote instead, I am not entirely comfortable going to a direct, popular vote. The Wikipedia article I link to here includes an excellent summary of pros and cons of the current system. Bottom line, to me: Any system which ensures that smaller, less populous, poorer states get equal attention with the larger, richer ones is probably a Good Thing.

UPDATE:
In a follow-up post to her original one on the 17th Amendment, Tam quotes herself in the Comments section on Say Uncle's blog, where he seconds her motion:

From comments at Unc's, when asked what would be different without the 17th Amendment:

There would certainly be a whole lot fewer unfunded mandates.
As it is now:

Representative: “My constituents want free stuff!”
Senator: “Yeah! My constituents want free stuff!“

As it was supposed to be:
Representative: “My constituents want free stuff!”
Senator: “Whoah, whoah, whoah! How are we supposed to pay for all this crap back in Des Moines?“

The Senate’s function as a mini 50 state UN is gone. The senator from Illinois is no longer an ambassador from the Land of Lincoln, he’s a super special long-term representative from the Land of Daley.

We here in Washington pretty much expect that our senators are elected by Seattle, with support by some of it's suburbs and Olympia; outside those areas, with few exceptions, Washington is actually fairly conservative.
Of course, with the liberal lock on the state .gov, it might not make a difference.
But one can dream...