Big Picture Panel: Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future/The Zero Hour & Kymone Freeman, We Act Radio/Black Lives Matter DC. The American Legislative Exchange Council - or ALEC - the Koch Brothers-backed right-wing group that succesfully gave us right to work for less laws, stand for ground shoot first laws, and voter suppression ID laws, has drawn up a dangerous new piece of "model legislation." As John Nichols reports in the Nation - it calls for a repeal of the 17th Amendment - which gives the American people the right to directly elect their senators. The proposed resolution would instead give state legislatures the power to elect senators. As wild as this sounds - it's a popular idea among Republicans. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Jeff Flake have all said in recent years that they support repealing the 17th Amendment. Why do the Repblicans hate democracy?