We've Abandoned the Two Ways We Were to be a Republic

Perhaps the two most significant ways in which the original Constitution called for the U.S. to be a republic are no longer in effect, one having been removed from the Constitution and the other not being practiced.

Go ahead, browse through the Constitution, looking for ways our government was set to be a republic, not a democracy. What do you find?

One, you find the U.S. senators were to be elected not by the people, but by the state legislators. Two, you find the president was to be elected not by the people, but by electors of the Electoral College. The 17th Amendment changed the rule on senators, stipulating that they were from that time forth to be elected by the people. As for the president being elected by the Electoral College, officially, he or she is, but it is but a formality. In practice, the people vote for president, not for the electors, and the electors are committed in advance to vote for the candidate the people voted for. As set up by the Constitution, it would seem that when we go to the polls, the names of the electors should be on the ballots, not the names of the presidential candidates, themselves. And, it would seem that we should have electors not bound to the candidates and not having predetermined who they will vote for. But, rather, those electors after being elected should study, weigh and consider everyone whom they think might make a good president, and then each elector should make an educated decision, voting for the person they conclude will be best.

Being a democracy is not such a bad thing, to me, but neither is being a republic. And, I do sometimes lament that we have abandoned the two things in the Constitution that most distinguished us as a republic. Actually, even with those two provisions, we were part democracy, for, all along, those in the House of Representatives were to be elected by the people. The Constitution had many balances, and it should not surprise us that there was a balance between being a republic and being a democracy.

Only, that balance has been lost. I say we should restore it.