Interest in repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution might seem particularly strong at this moment among conservatives, with Republicans continuing to face minority status in the next U.S. Senate.
But George Mason law professor Todd Zywicki wrote the following words for National Review before the election, when it appeared that the GOP might be able to capture a slight majority in Congress? upper chamber:
The Constitution did not create a direct democracy; it established a constitutional republic. Its goal was to preserve liberty, not to maximize popular sovereignty. To this end, the Framers provided that the power of various political actors would derive from different sources. While House members were to be elected directly by the people, the president would be elected by the Electoral College. The people would have no direct influence on the selection of judges, who would be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve for life or ?during good behavior.? And senators would be elected by state legislatures.
Empowering state legislatures to elect senators was considered both good politics and good constitutional design. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the proposal was ratified with minimal discussion and recognized as the approach ?most congenial? to public opinion. Direct election was proposed by Pennsylvania?s James Wilson but defeated ten to one in a straw poll. More important than public opinion, however, was that limitations on direct popular sovereignty are an important aspect of a constitutional republic?s superiority to a direct democracy. As Madison observes in Federalist 51, ?A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.?
