Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (Flickr Photo/Gage Skidmore)

It’s “[t]ime to repeal 17th Amendment,” former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said in a tweet following the GOP’s failure to repeal Obamacare on Friday.

“Time to repeal 17th Amendment,” said former Governor Mike Huckabee in a tweet. “Founders had it right-Senators chosen by state legislatures. Will work for their states and respect 10th amid [sic].”

The 10th Amendment – part of the Bill of Rights – states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Stating that there is an “ignorance” regarding the history of the 17th Amendment, the former governor of Arkansas did not stop there, however.

“Ignorance of history of 17th Amendment is revealed by response to my earlier Tweet,” tweeted former Gov. Huckabee. “Direct election of Senate is major cause of #swamp.”

Prior to the inclusion of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution senators were not directly elected by the citizenry of their respective states as they are today. Instead, for the first 125 years, senators were elected by their state legislatures. Direct election was proposed in 1826, but “did not gain considerable support until the late 19th century.” The 17th Amendment was ratified by three-quarters of the states on April 8, 1913.

The 17th Amendment reads as follows: