Our Constitution: Undemocratic Democracy : Part 2

This post is a continuation of the first in a series of historical threats to our democracy.  Here, I will examine the constitutional structure of our government and what we can learn from the Founders about our current dilemma.

Structure of Government

Even with only 6% of the population eligible to vote, the elite class was still worried about losing control. They designed government to keep people like themselves in power and others out. For instance, they divided government into three parts: the executive (the President), the legislative (Congress) the judiciary (the courts) and then protected the president, half of Congress, and the courts from the popular will.

• The president was not elected directly by the citizens. Rather, voters chose from a slate of the propertied who became the Electoral College, which then chose the president. Today the Electoral College is only an administrative formality, and its members are essentially bound by the results of the state vote.  At the founding, however, the usually-elite electors were not committed to the popular vote and could protect against the majority by electing whomever they chose.
• Further, the senators were chosen by state legislatures, again buffering the Senate from the populace. Since 1913, senators have been elected by direct vote, removing that buffer.In addition, only one-third of the senators were elected every two years for six-year terms, which meant that only one-third of the Senate at any time would be influenced by populist, hot-button issues. The practical effect was to insulate the Senate from the will of the majority.

• The third branch of government, the federal judiciary (including the Supreme Court), was appointed by the president and approved by the Senate, with the result that this selection of jurists was also protected from the will of the propertyless.

Of the three branches of government, then, the Constitution provided that only half of one branch (the House) was chosen directly by the citizenry. Why create this voting imbalance? Because those who wrote the Constitution believed firmly that only the elite could make decisions wise enough to maintain “democracy.”  They took it for granted that the country needed to be firmly controlled by a small group selected by the elite.

Today, we can view the writers of the Constitution with a little less reverence than they are usually accorded. They obviously did not intend a government of the people, by the people, or for the people. Indeed, the Constitution seems designed more to protect the country from the people who wanted “too much democracy.”

What can we learn from the Federalist Papers and the thinking of the founders that is relevant for our times?  Perhaps the most important lesson is that they believed that government had to be buffered by the Constitution from takeover by the popular will.

In the age of Trump, we are confronted with precisely the problems the framers set up to protect us from. Too many of the people are susceptible to demagoguery. Although it  is certainly not definite, many of these people are apparently from among those with less formal education.

In addition, because of the Electoral College, George W Bush and Donald Trump were elected by a minority vote of the country,

President Trump was elected according to the rules of the Constitution, that is, by “the people,” but he is incapable of running the government safely and has damaged our democracy beyond anything we could have imagined even five years ago. As the Founding Fathers feared and predicted:

• The public is susceptible to manipulation.
• Demagogues can come to power.
• In a democracy, politicians who do not believe in democracy can be elected.   

I am firm believer that we must hang on to democracy but my confidence is shaken. There are no easy answers to today’s threats. I’m reminded of the quote attributed to Winston Churchill

Democracy is the worst form of government … except for all the others.

So the question becomes: Can we tweak our democracy to survive?

In future posts I want to explore further how, in the modern era, democracy has become so damaged and look into the question of whether it is even capable of governing our country.