Trump has done a number on our Democratic institutions. The question is who is really going to defend Democracy and how are they going to do it. Clearly, Trump has done his best to see that Congress has lost much of its constitutional role, radically accelerating a trend that has been happening since the New Deal. The Supreme Court is watching its back knowing Trump would have no hesitation to go through with packing the court if needed. Many liberals intended the independent agencies in the post New Deal World to serve as a fourth branch government, professionalizing complex decision making. This branch of government was never really fully envisioned by the Constitution (outside rudimentary Cabinet officer powers). The courts (perhaps to a certain degree rightly) and Trump (nefariously) has trimmed their power.
My question is what now? Does the problem really get solved by changing the players? Or will a different party and/or person merely step into the Presidency and assume 90% of the power that Trump has accrued to the Presidency? Trumps actions make me concerned about Democracy in America. The fact that conservatives, liberals and progressives in government and academia have not proposed anything in the way of constitutional or legal reforms to curb the power of an Imperial Presidency worries me even more. I am concerned that for the majority of the political players and people in this country, the lack of attention and discussion masks a belief that an all powerful Presidency is fine as long as the “right” person is in power.
The 17th Amendment bound the Senate to democracy’s central flaw: the passions of the crowd. What was once a deliberative body has become a stage for mobocracy, and Congress now resembles a bar fight. For decades the mob has shouted “give us more,” and the leaders who rise from that din are those most willing to indulge it. The result is a nation driven toward bankruptcy, fiscally and morally.
Many I know did not vote FOR Trump, but out of exhaustion with the Democratic mob. They saw in him a blunt instrument to shatter the entrenched bureaucracy. He is a bully, yes—but in breaking things apart he has revealed just how deeply Washington is steeped in liberal, socialist, and statist bias. From the outside, it is almost entertaining to watch something like a fair fight unfold. Yet the long-term picture is darker: democracy cannot endure until its fatal flaw is addressed.
The remedy lies in restoring the original design. If state legislatures once again appointed Senators from among their elected ranks, Congress would regain order and comity. Washington would recover the separation of powers as intended, and the republic would be anchored once more in stability rather than the shifting passions of the crowd and rebel rousing politicians.
I’m not sure a single change in the composition of the Senate would work the wonders that you imagine. The system is broken, yes, but the breaking points are not just the method of choosing senators but in the political dynamics that lead to the most extreme voices becoming the most powerful because of a disengaged electorate. We do need a fourth branch of government, because the modern economy is vastly different than the (mostly) agrarian economy the Framers inhabited. How we would choose the leaders of that hypothetical branch would be far more important.
This much is true. "Washington would recover the separation of powers as intended, and the republic would be anchored once more in stability rather than the shifting passions of the crowd and rebel rousing politicians", precisely because the "the most extreme voices becoming the most powerful because of a disengaged electorate" would be removed from the election of Senators. That was an important restraint included by the framers needed to prevent the downfall of democracy by the process that has been understood across history. One that is in clear view today.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I will confess that this idea had not occurred to me, but I know that our republic needs some sort of re-imagining, and perhaps this change (and others as well) would strengthen it. I’m grateful for the exchange of views on this topic.
Trump has done a number on our Democratic institutions. The question is who is really going to defend Democracy and how are they going to do it. Clearly, Trump has done his best to see that Congress has lost much of its constitutional role, radically accelerating a trend that has been happening since the New Deal. The Supreme Court is watching its back knowing Trump would have no hesitation to go through with packing the court if needed. Many liberals intended the independent agencies in the post New Deal World to serve as a fourth branch government, professionalizing complex decision making. This branch of government was never really fully envisioned by the Constitution (outside rudimentary Cabinet officer powers). The courts (perhaps to a certain degree rightly) and Trump (nefariously) has trimmed their power.
My question is what now? Does the problem really get solved by changing the players? Or will a different party and/or person merely step into the Presidency and assume 90% of the power that Trump has accrued to the Presidency? Trumps actions make me concerned about Democracy in America. The fact that conservatives, liberals and progressives in government and academia have not proposed anything in the way of constitutional or legal reforms to curb the power of an Imperial Presidency worries me even more. I am concerned that for the majority of the political players and people in this country, the lack of attention and discussion masks a belief that an all powerful Presidency is fine as long as the “right” person is in power.
The 17th Amendment bound the Senate to democracy’s central flaw: the passions of the crowd. What was once a deliberative body has become a stage for mobocracy, and Congress now resembles a bar fight. For decades the mob has shouted “give us more,” and the leaders who rise from that din are those most willing to indulge it. The result is a nation driven toward bankruptcy, fiscally and morally.
Many I know did not vote FOR Trump, but out of exhaustion with the Democratic mob. They saw in him a blunt instrument to shatter the entrenched bureaucracy. He is a bully, yes—but in breaking things apart he has revealed just how deeply Washington is steeped in liberal, socialist, and statist bias. From the outside, it is almost entertaining to watch something like a fair fight unfold. Yet the long-term picture is darker: democracy cannot endure until its fatal flaw is addressed.
The remedy lies in restoring the original design. If state legislatures once again appointed Senators from among their elected ranks, Congress would regain order and comity. Washington would recover the separation of powers as intended, and the republic would be anchored once more in stability rather than the shifting passions of the crowd and rebel rousing politicians.
I’m not sure a single change in the composition of the Senate would work the wonders that you imagine. The system is broken, yes, but the breaking points are not just the method of choosing senators but in the political dynamics that lead to the most extreme voices becoming the most powerful because of a disengaged electorate. We do need a fourth branch of government, because the modern economy is vastly different than the (mostly) agrarian economy the Framers inhabited. How we would choose the leaders of that hypothetical branch would be far more important.
This much is true. "Washington would recover the separation of powers as intended, and the republic would be anchored once more in stability rather than the shifting passions of the crowd and rebel rousing politicians", precisely because the "the most extreme voices becoming the most powerful because of a disengaged electorate" would be removed from the election of Senators. That was an important restraint included by the framers needed to prevent the downfall of democracy by the process that has been understood across history. One that is in clear view today.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I will confess that this idea had not occurred to me, but I know that our republic needs some sort of re-imagining, and perhaps this change (and others as well) would strengthen it. I’m grateful for the exchange of views on this topic.