And what of the post–Seventeenth Amendment Senate? Rather than spending time conferring with the elected state officials who would have sent them to Washington, D.C., and representing primarily state interests in the Senate, these senators now spend more time with, and are more beholden to, Washington lobbyists, campaign funders, national political consultants, and national advocacy organizations. In fact, states are often viewed as little more than another constituency, one among hundreds, with interests that may or may not be relevant to or comport with a senator’s political and policy
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