It would be helpful to point to an earlier representative republic and their failed responses to the kind of problem we are talking about here.
ALL OF THEM for identical reasons. Human nature does not change. The Founder's were well-schooled in the failures of Republics and Democracies. Most of their warnings to us, their posterity - in maintaining liberty in the most fragile government system devised by man, were rooted in the understanding of history, human nature and the bible.
Even Benjamin Franklin, not the most devout Christian among them noted: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."