Hence the “Constitutionally mandated”.
It’s a “democratically elected representative republic” of which is directed constitutionally to follow certain “mandates” one of which is the “electoral college”.
By whatever name, of which I prefer “democratic republic,” and Mark Levin uses “post-constitutional republic,” the 17th Amendment fundamentally changed the federal/state relationship, for practical purposes repealed the 10th Amendment, and set the stage for a hundred years of increasingly “progressive” congressional laws and judicial decisions from a Scotus that recognizes no limits.
Whatever we have, it’s a long way from what the Framers bequeathed.
To even possibly return to Constitutional order, the 17th must go.
So would you label us a Democracy then?