"THE REAL PREFERENCE OF VOTERS": MADISON'S IDEA OF A TOP THREE ELECTION AND THE PRESENT NECESSITY OF REFORM.

The core principle of Madisonian democracy is that the constitutional separation of powers provides the best hope of safeguarding liberty, the rule of law, and the republic itself from the risk of tyranny. In The Federalist Papers, Madison did not focus of the importance of electoral procedure as a means for preserving the separation of powers. Over the course of his career, however, Madison came to recognize the significance of electoral procedure to the structure and operation of republican government. In 1823, Madison specifically embraced the electoral principles of the French theoretician Marquis de Condorcet. Recognizing Madison's embrace of Condorcet's principles is important today to restore the separation of powers that have been failed to protect the republic from the current authoritarian threat it faces. A Condorcet-based electoral system would have avoided the election of a demagogue as President. As important, or even more so, the use of Condorcet-based elections for the Senate would have enabled the Senate to perform its essential separation-of-powers functions of, first, disqualifying an impeached President whose reelection is a danger of despotism and, second, refusing to confirm irresponsible cabinet nominations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]