The supreme court is appointed by whoever happens to be in powerThe people pick the president . The president appoints someone to the supreme court . This appointment must be confirmed by congress , itself voted in by the people . Checks and balances . It is democratic . The electoral college isn ' t remotely democratic . It ' s republican . The senate gives two senators to every state regardless of size , giving citizens of tiny state far more power than citizens from large stateBut then there ' s also the house to offset that . Small states didn ' t want to be bullied by big states . Big states didn ' t want to be pushed around by smaller states . Result ? Bicameralism . It ' s all perfectly democratic . The founding fathers were fundamentally mistrustful of democracyI think they were more distrustful of the common man .