Reply #3: Ken Jennings I am not ...

[jor_mama]

(he's the one currently at 34 straight Jeopardy wins)

A little embarrassed I didn't make that connection w/ 17th amendment.

I guess in reading your link, I am a bit perplexed. I can see the reason that the original means of appointing senators was there, but at the same time the description reads like it probably would today: rife with corruption, special interest groups, and aloof politicians paying no mind to the populace since they only had to pander to the state legislators. If this was the way senators earned their trip to Washington

I guess this sort of thing was fine in colonial days, but as a 'normal' citizen, wielding only the power to vote out my representative because he/she helped appoint a senator I don't like would be just one degree too far removed. I read the allegations of the 'millionaires club' and can't help but draw a connection to today, even 91 years removed from the amendment. And they had a pretty good idea in 1913 how this balance had been swayed against the popular vote, since the flag had just earned its 47th and 48th stars.

Thanks for the info!