To Nifster, I don't blame all, but I do blame most bad things at the national level on the 17A.
If you are interested:
The Bitter Harvest of the 17th Amendment.
Direct Election of Senators and the Silent Artillery of Time: "So well-designed was the Framers’ structure, that America had forgotten the problematic nature of purely popular government which plagued and eventually destroyed overly democratic societies since the ancient Greek city-states."
Always good to focus on an academic thesis that has little to do with reality