This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, July 15, 2010. I'm Caleb Brown.

The 17th Amendment to the U.S US Constitution stripped state legislatures of the power

to choose US senators.

It was a time for repeal.

Todd Zewicki is a foundation professor of law at George Mason University's School of Law, he believes

the Senate could once again be a bulwark against encroaching federal power if senators

will return to their role as protectors of states.

George Mason himself was an advocate for having state legislatures decide how U.S. senators

were selected. What was the rationale at the time for having

senators be selected in one man in this manner?

George Mason wasn't alone in that. In fact, one of the things you read in the Federalist Papers is that they say among the various

proposals, including direct election as senators, it was proposed at the time, this was really the only one that was acceptable,

the one that was most congenial to public opinion is how Madison said it, and it was

one of the least controversial aspects of the original Constitution.

And there was really two different reasons

why they did it.

The primary reason was structural,

which is it was seen as a linchpin of bicameralism

and federalism. The second aspect of. it was the notion of

the notion of indirect election and the kind of people

would be elected to the United States Senate

as a result of the indirect election.

...