(04-14-2022, 07:58 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote: The founders had the right idea with a republic and the electorate. They just couldn't enact state laws because they saw them as independent nations. That is probably where we need to change tack.

They had the right idea with a lot of stuff. With states being mini republics, a Senate where states are equal and can veto federal appointments, a House based on population, the ability to add states to the union, checks and balances, many other things.  

They went terribly wrong with making a process for selecting a President.  The original article II couldn't handle a contested election at all, and Amendment 12's process falls apart if there are more than two strong candidates.  The two national parties, corrupt and unaccountable though they are, are basically a beneficial conspiracy to prevent a 3-way Presidential election from occuring.  Such an election would likely go to the House, which would be a real crisis of legitimacy.

The other area where the founders clearly lacked foresight is entrusting state legislatures with their own rules of election and districts, and trusting US Congress with its own rules of election.  Just like other aspects of governing, there needs to be a check or balance from another branch or else abuse will be frequent.  And it is. Congress and courts at the federal level have a clear power in the 14th and 15th amendment to act against bad districts and bad procedures but only if the impact falls on racial lines. The federal courts have been petitioned to interpret the 14th more broadly such that it strikes down partisan gerrymandering, and they should, but Kavanaugh disagreed.

Again, we need to be able to have these conversations realistically.  People today are tempted one-up each other in a reinforcing spiral that either deifies the founders as demigods, or villifies them as racists.  We need to take a middle path and see them as men only, who did some things well, and some things poorly.

And yes.  We need to change tack.  We need to work on state laws that will create an interstate compact or something similar.

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