I mean in the types of legislation that have been passed since senators have been directly elected. I'm thinking of the new deal, the GI Bill, the civil rights act, and so on. This of course isn't evidence that these laws wouldn't have been passed otherwise, but they're all consequences of people demanding action from the federal government, which seems easier if you have some say in who's passing the laws. It's not as if only good people became senators before the 17th amendment. There were a number of rebel leaders who assumed Senate seats after the civil war, for example. I think we should go further and destroy the electoral college, and add a lot more representatives, so that we can get closer to equal representation. The Senate is insular enough even when we do have a voice in who's there.