But that's the point! One, the great new social-democrat hope is same as the old boss. And two, in a large Congressional caucus, dim bulbs can rely on a small brain trust. Someone running as a brash new thinker is expected to be a thought leader, not a shallow, foolish follower.
Framers of the Constitution expected Presidents, Senators & Justices to be serious, dignified & learned.
They expected the House to be a bunch of yahoos, climbers & grifters, & designed its structure & powers accordingly.
They expected the House to be a bunch of yahoos, climbers & grifters, & designed its structure & powers accordingly.
Of course, politics being what it is, James Madison was perfectly capable of both (1) having a low opinion of members of the House and (2) running for a seat in the House himself, where he swiftly became its most influential leader.
The Framers mistrusted populism, but they insisted that the common man have a seat at the table. That tension was part of the design of our system from the outset.
Their solution, for the most part, was to ensure that both the populists and the elites had the unilateral power to stop each other from doing things, but that both had to work together to actually accomplish anything.
Where the Framers' design broke down is that they failed to foresee a government where agencies, courts, and perpetually self-funded entitlement programs could operate indefinitely without the positive sanction of anyone chosen by the people in intervening elections.
The original tension built into the system by the Framers is still with us, but its frustration by the unelected branches is how you get the building of populist frustration that led us to our present moment, not just Trump but on the populist Left as well.
