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Actually, PSYCHO-FREEP, the whole idea behind appointment with concurrence of the Senate was to avoid the politicization of the Court.

Note that it is the Senate to whom that "advice and consent" was assigned, not the House. That was because the Senate was supposed to be populated by men who had been named by the state legislatures and therefore were deemed less likely to be subject to the whims and winds of political ideology.

The whole thing began to fall apart with the passage of the 17th Amendment which passed the election of Senators to the general electorate (making the system less republican and more democratic) and thus turning the Senate into as politically charged a body as the House.

From there to where we are today is but a short trip. Once politics began to enter into the judicial appointments and judges began to make their rulings based upon ideology rather than what the Constitution and the Law said, it was inevitable that the SCOTUS would become a highly politicized body where ideology rather than temperament and scholarship became of paramount importance. This journey was greatly accelerated when liberals came to realize that they could not push their agenda through Congress, but if they appointed the right Justices and judges, they could get their agenda made into law by judicial fiat.

The intent of the lifetime appointments was the same, to isolate the Justices from the winds of political change--that fell apart when they began to make political decision, as well.

What we need is a revitalization of the American electorate, they need to be educated in our history and the Constitution and then the 17th Amendment needs to be revoked and the "several States" returned their representation in Congress (which was the whole idea behind how Senators were originally put in office).

Sorry for the lecture. You probably know most of this, but I like to be thorough.:)

Because if they were elected, they would not be deferential to the other two branches.

Madison went into the constitutional convention with the Virginia plan. The lower house would be elected popularly and the executive would be appointed. It was felt that this did not guaranty enough of a check on the legislative branch and hence the electoral college was created. The Framers though did not want the courts to be very independent so they decided that they would be appointed. They knew that since the executive was selecting these people and the Senate was confirming them that the people selected would be naturally deferential to the other two branches.