This should have read, "The world of today is not the same world of the 1880's.
This is also related to the recent talk of "qualifications to be a Senator" that began with Caroline Kennedy. We should combine our two posts and start making this succinct argument on related threads as they continue to arise.
-PJ
Thanks for your reply, PJ. I'd be happy to do so. In fact, I've made this argument many times over the years I've posted on FR. Unfortunately, it's tilting at windmills, because the 17th Amendment will not be repealed.
Very few Americans these days understand the balance of power written into the Constitution by the Founders. In fact, "balance of power" is taught, somewhat misleadingly, as "checks and balances." Few people today understand the true relationship between the states and the federal government. Heck, since the Civil War, even the states have largely allowed the feds to turn them into barely more than regional subdivisions of the federal government rather than respect them as the sovereign entities they originally were and ought to be even now.
Still, I think it's worth trying to educate people about the finer points of the Constitution, which is why I'd be happy to join your efforts regarding the 17th Amendment.