Repeal The 17th Amendment

However, these are arguments for the status quo. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction that democratic processes are always better than non-democratic ones. However that is not what the founding fathers thought. They found that democracy has its pros and cons so therefore we should only be partially democratic. They selected the House of Representatives to be the ones elected by people in each district and the Senate to be selected by State legislatures. There are some benefits for this Senator selection. Legislatures are Smarter than People That is the whole point of a Legislature. To represent the people and hopefully be more informed about the issues than the people are. It follows then that state legislatures would on average make better choices of senators than the people will. The purpose of the senate is more geared to contain people who are better at governing and less about representing the will of the people. Senate would Respect State Rights more Over time, state rights have slowly declined. One benefit of senators being selected by state legislators is that they will be more likely to defend the rights of the people who selected them, the states. Benefits of State Power So why do we even care about state power? When more responsibility is in the hands of the states, people in different states are better able to make policies they want independently. If some states want Obamacare and high taxes for the rich, they can do whatever they want. If others want no gun control and flat taxes, they are allowed to do that. State rights allow more people to be happy. Now I don't believe that they should have complete independence, but they definitely should have more power than they already have. Problems with Democratic Election There are many problems with democratic election. First off, people tend to be highly uninformed about even the basic political processes. For example, 45% of Americans in 2012 either thought the Supreme Court had struck down Obamacare or didn't know what happened (1). How can we expect people this ignorant to make informed choices? Surely a state legislature would be more informed. Because of an uninformed population, politicians with name recognition most likely get reelected. Money matters and people pay so much attention to cheap 60 seconds political ads and mailing. Those with the good looks and rhetorical ability often beat others with real experience. Just see the Clinton vs. Obama election. In order to keep their districts, politicians will fight for pet project for their districts and take ignorant positions just to keep from getting unelected. Problems with Old System Sure, election by legislatures had problems but instead of replacing it with a worse system, why not reform the system instead? If there is deadlock, then require simple majorities. While there is corruption and bribery in the old system, these things still very much exist today. This is similar to the parliamentary system where the executive is elected by the legislature. This system is common among Western European governments. In conclusion, selection by state legislature helps select senators who are better and more likely to protect state rights. 1: . https://thepoliticalcarnival.net...