Another reason to break it up, break it all up

Confirmation fighting has risen as the Feds have become more powerful, natch.  Stephen Carter explains:

One reason that there were scarcely any squabbles over cabinet members for the first 90 years of the republic is that the presidents consulted closely with leading senators in deciding whom to appoint.

The tradition began to decline as governing grew more complex, and was thrown over entirely during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes. Part of the problem was that executive appointments had become part of the spoils system for powerful senators. But, as so often, we tossed out the baby with the bath water. Determined to end the corruption, Hayes forced his appointments down the Senate’s collective throat. Thus Hayes, known to history for the infamous bargain that bought the presidency at the cost of ending Reconstruction, also largely subdued the Senate as a serious partner in the appointments process. . . .

A rarely mentioned possibility is to shrink by a significant amount the size and scope of the federal government. A smaller executive branch would mean less need for Senate confirmation. Indeed, the steady rise of confirmation fights in the years after World War II predictably tracks the steady rise of federal agencies. Yet significant shrinkage seems politically unlikely — every agency lives symbiotically with several well- organized interest groups.

Yes, it would be lovely if grasping interest groups would stop digging for dirt and hungry politicians would stop grandstanding, but democracy is rarely lovely. Democracy is clamorous and disputatious. The more distant people feel from those who govern them, the louder their clamor to be heard.