The Founders Worried too, About Foreign Meddling in Our Elections

[egbertowillies]

One would think the GOP who speaks constantly about the founders and much more, would get it. They conveniently tout the constitution yet they allow Donald Trump to effectively become a traitor to our nation. Professor Jeanne Abrams reminds us that this was a concern from the days of our founding.

https://egbertowillies.com/2018/05/07/founders-worried-foreign-meddling/

[kennetha]

1. The Founders were no fan of elections

The only elections (by the people at large) for national office that they envisioned were elections for the House. The Senators were "appointed" by state legislatures. The president was "elected" by the electors of the electoral college who could be chosen in any way that State legislatures deemed fit.

[Wounded Bear]

2. The Founders didn't like "democracy" in its pure form...

And, since many (most?) of them were wealthy or at least well-to-do, they had the rational fear that in a democracy, the people would rise up and vote their wealth away. Frankly, many of them would fit in well with modern Libertarians.

They envisioned the Electoral College as a means to prevent the kind of populist movement that has led directly to Donald Trump. Perhaps they didn't realize that far in the future, there would be so many states, so many of which were rural and sparsely populated.

Their model was not much removed from the original Articles of Confederation. They designed the US Republic to be a "democracy" of the State Governments, not so much of the people. They built in strong protections for the minority (not racial minorities of course) which make it difficult to change anything to better the lives of the people. What we have ended up with is a nation that routinely lets a minority of voters control who holds the reins of government.

[Bucky]

3. A little perspective helps

In the world they lived in, the Founders loved elections a shitload more than just about any other viable nation around. And in fact the social and economic chaos that left the 13 states floundering very much did arise from what they called "an excess of democracy".

Never forget that Trump got the Republican nomination from a thoroughly democratic process. Democracy is better than its alternatives, but it's far from a flawless system.