I recently heard someone argue that the biggest problem in the US government today, is the 17th Amendment.

The 17th Amendment changes Senators to be directly elected by citizens. Whereas previously US Senators were elected by local state legislatures.

Today, the vast majority of people don't care about local elections. People vote for President and, hopefully, Congress, and ignore the rest, or at best vote along party lines. The argument is, if national positions are elected by local representatives, people will care about local elections, which in practice have a much greater effect on citizens' everyday lives.

This guy went so far as to argue that all federal positions—President, Senate, House—should be elected by State legislatures, and State, by local city or county governing bodies. So citizens would only vote for their immediate local city councils and mayors. And thus, they would vote locally, and pay attention to local issues.

I'm not completely convinced, I can certainly think of issues with taking the Republic that far, but I can also see the advantages.