I have long been an opponent of the 17th Amendment. Ratified in 1913, this gave the American people direct popular election of Senators. Prior to this, Senators were selected by the states (some states held popular elections), as the Senate was designed to represent the state governments, while the House of Representatives would be democratically-elected representatives of the people. This is stated in the Federalist Papers and apparent when you compare the powers of the Senate to the views of the Founding Fathers (e.g. ratification of treaties) . Since the 17th’s ratification in 1913, we have had extensive growth in government, often against the will (or budget) of the state governments (more recently REAL ID, No Child Left Behind, etc.) and a repeal would once again make the Senate subservient to the state governments while keeping the House subservient to the people.

It is written by “Epaminondas” of An Anti-Federalist’s Blog, and has two parts:

Part 1
Part 2

The article is long, but a recommended read.