… Two parts in the original Constitution, written in 1787, that are often criticized by pundits and political scientists are the Senate and the Electoral College. It is easy to conflate the two, but here I want to point out they have important differences and thus pose distinct challenges in adapting to the modern world.
The Electoral College is a strange, patched-together constitutional contraption. But it poses a smaller long-term threat to American democracy than the Senate, because the problems is causes are less serious and there are plausible ways to address them. In contrast, the Senate undermines principles of equal democratic representation and we have no viable way to address most of these problems within our constitutional framework. CONT.
Jonathan M. Ladd (Georgetown), Mischiefs of Faction