“To Promote the General Welfare”: Addressing Political Corruption in America

Systemic (but lawful) political corruption reduces well-being and equity in America. The original form of Madisonian democracy is no longer capable of containing such corruption. Proposals currently on the table to stem corruption are unlikely to be effective and tend to undermine basic rights. This Essay describes a new, but still Madisonian, approach—regulating the output of corrupted legislative and administrative processes, rather than the inputs. Providing for substantive ex post review of direct and delegated legislation would be far more protective of the “general welfare” of the People than other reforms, while no more or less difficult to implement. Supporting an “umpire” branch may be a dominant strategy for elites themselves.