They Don’t Care What We Want

The Founding Fathers knew this would happen, which is why they created the Senate.

Alarmed by rising national debt and increasingly downbeat about their country’s course, Americans are clear about how they want to attack the government’s runway budget deficits: raise taxes on the wealthy and keep hands off of Medicare and Medicaid.

The Founders knew that the Hoi Polloi would periodically get upset about rich people running the country into the ground and want them to pay their fair share in taxes. The way to prevent that from actually happening was to create a second non-Democratic chamber of Congress made up of members who were not elected but appointed by the state legislatures of each individual state.

Ever since, the American people have been trying to claw back some kind of true representative democracy. In 1913, the 17th Amendment was ratified, which created a new system within which the members of the U.S, Senate are elected directly by the people. But that hasn’t solved the problem.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.