Against the seventeenth, and some other ranting...

Now, I know a Ron Paul fan is usually expected to rail against the sixteenth. I do, but there was another harmful amendment passed in 1913. The seventeenth amendment, which created the popular election of senators. Prior to this, the state legislatures selected the state's senators. This made the senator a representative of the state, not the people. Also, given the senate's impeachment hearings and treaty ratification, the senator USED to mean that the states themselves were approving a treaty or trying an official. This is a grave undermining of the state's interests. The other major reason for having the senator selected by the legislature was that the legislators are SUPPOSED to have a longer term view of things than the general populous.
Of course, that isn't really the case these days. Our legislators only try to band-aid problems, at our expense, they won't balance a budget, and they won't stay out of our lives.
You want a real economic stimulus for IL? Balance the budget, repeal the state income and property taxes and leave the sales tax alone. End the state's claim on people's lives and land. Make the departments and bureaus more accountable for their spending, nobody can follow it these days. Leave local and personal issues alone. Oh, and how about a return to Dillon's rule, so our city governments quit trying to make us be better people, and just let things be right and wrong?If Chicago wants home rule, let them cede from the state in accordance with the Constitution.