Constitutions, Republics and Costs
from Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show Podcast Hosted by Dave Bowman
On Constitution Day, Dave asks whether the Senate still works as the Framers intended. The Seventeenth Amendment gave voters the power to elect senators directly, ending a system troubled by deadlocks and corruption. It also removed state legislatures’ direct voice in Congress. What did the nation gain, and what did it give up? The question becomes more urgent when a senator’s ability to serve is in doubt, but the seat remains valuable to a political party. Dave examines the cases of Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein, the case for term limits, and the difficult question of who should decide when an elected official can no longer do the job. Then September 17 takes the story from Augustus and the fall of the Roman Republic to the signing of the Constitution and the bloodiest single day in American history at Antietam. Together, those events offer a reminder of how a republic can be lost, how one can be built, and what Americans have paid to preserve theirs.
Embed this episode
No transcript yet.