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But over time, I have come to believe that we would likely end up with many of the same problems, and the same Senators regardless of whether they were chosen by the legislatures or the voters.

I agree.

There is not a system of government that is incorruptible. Some are more corruptible than others, but they are all prone to it. Politicians have power. Power corrupts. Our only real check and balance lies within the people.

I really hope Trump is the beginning of a new era in America. An era when corrupt, bought-and-paid-for politicians no longer have chokeholds on their districts and the people hold their representatives responsible. An era when people expect the government to actually run the country in the most effective way possible, sticking with programs that work and eliminating those that don't, when people stop using ideology as a guideline for voting.

But over time, I have come to believe that we would likely end up with many of the same problems, and the same Senators regardless of whether they were chosen by the legislatures or the voters.

Not necessarily true. For instance, consider the fact that the GOP now controls, what, approximately 30+ state legislatures and governor's offices?

That fact would mean that the current makeup of the United States Senate, pre-17th Amendment would currently consist of at least 60 GOP Senators, which is a clear governing majority. Changing it to be by popular vote has therefore introduced a needless and undesirable layer of chaos and gridlock, IMHO.

My humble opinion is that the 17th Amendment makes the Constitution too democratic; it was was misguided, clearly weakened the representation of the States in the federal government, and diluted the ability of the majority party to effectively govern and move its agenda at the federal level.

According to my understanding of the Framers' original intent when crafting the Constitution, I therefore staunchly support the repeal of the 17th Amendment.

If the concern was related to corruption state legislatures, then the solution should have been to find a solution at that level, rather than mess up the States' representation in the US Senate, consequently weakening the power of what should be the governing party (in the current case, the GOP).

Our only real check and balance lies within the people

Power lying with the people is a democracy, mob rule, which is exactly what the Framers of the Constitution were protecting us from by creating a Republic. That Republic was stolen from us by the propaganda of the Marxists in the early 20th century when they sold America the lie that "the people" should elect Senators. Hence we have the 17th Amendment.

I really hope Trump is the beginning of a new era in America

We've elected Trump president. Executive branch. The 17th Amendment is unrelated being tied to the Legislature. You're talking apples and oranges. If Trump starts using Executive powers to pass laws he is no better than Obama Constitutionally. Yes, we might like Trumps laws better but if we accept them then we accept the violation of our Constitution and have enabled a future American dictator. Haven't we all seen the fear expressed by some here on FR that 0bama would create a crisis, impose martial law and not leave office? That is exactly what we would be opening the door to by "letting" Trump "fix" everything through the power of the pen.

Additionally, we are only sure that we have 4 years of a Trump administration. There are term limits for president. At most he only serves 8 years. Why not address the true problem of the cultural marxism that's wormed its way into our Federal burocracy and repeal the 17th Amendment, call for legislative term limits, put in place a procedure for 3/5 of the states to overcome unconstitutional judicial legislating and while we're at it repeal the 16th amendment?