US: How would you like to see twice as many Congressmen?

[Supracentral]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/59297-could-the-house-quadruple-in-size

Could the House quadruple in size?
By Eric Zimmermann
The Hill
09/17/09 03:44 PM ET

A federal lawsuit was filed today seeking to nearly double the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the NY Times reports.

The plaintiffs argue that the current system of apportionment gives unequal representation to different congressional districts.

The problem arises because each state gets at least one representative, regardless of size. So Wyoming, whose population is about 523,000, gets the same power in Congress as Nevada's 3rd district, which has over 900,000 constituents.

How to remedy this? Make Congress bigger, the plaintiffs say. A lot bigger:

That 400,000-person disparity between top and bottom has generated a federal court challenge that is set to be filed Thursday in Mississippi, charging that the system effectively disenfranchises people in certain states. The lawsuit asks the courts to order the House to fix the problem by increasing its size from 435 seats to at least 932, or perhaps as many as 1,761. That way, the plaintiffs argue, every state can have districts that are close to parity.​

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Isn't this a Great idea? <sarcasam detected>

That's just what we need. Another 1,300+ bullshit artists sucking on the public teet...

 

[savannahashlee]

The assholes we have in office right now dont do shit, so doubling it is going to make it an even bigger fluster cluck

 

[MDCmotorsports]

To dilute gasoline with alcohol does not take away the fact the end product is not what will become more useful and productive - nor does it make the solution less volatile when met by spark.

 

[ms07s]

Definatly a case where more is not better. If anything we should be removing people from government.

 

[Dirgle]

it definitely defines the term, "Big Government", at its most basic.

 

[drunk_medic]

Straw, meet camel's back.




..oh, you've met?

Many times before?

 

[Supracentral]

It's getting close to that point. I suspect if Cap & Tax, Healthcare or any of these huge government expanding bills pass, it's literally going to push people over the edge.

 

[91TurboDave]

These people are just retarded and need some way to get thier name in the news... More covernment(Yes it was intentional) seats? Our political system is already so over-crowded and convoluted it ceases to function...watering down sewage does not make it spring water...less seats in the house is what is needed....you are talking about changing the system of electing and maintaining a government defined by the Constitution, for a trivial matter such as you "feel" under represented. Here is a fix....make your state more attractive to live and work in and you will have more people living there, hence more representation in this ridiculous excuse for a cluster-fuck we call a government. Simple? Yes! Ever going to happen? NO!

 

[drunk_medic]

Our political system is already so over-crowded and convoluted it ceases to function...watering down sewage does not make it spring water.

It needs better filtering. Then you boil it and treat it chemically.

 

[GotBoost?]

Fukken idiots!!! Just what we need! More thieving, self-serving cocksuckers scamming good deals for themselves, on your dollar...

 

[91TurboDave]

It needs better filtering. Then you boil it and treat it chemically.

Can we use Saran Gas as the chemical treatment? That would help the problem Immensly! VX would be a choice as well....If the Neo-Socialists don't watch themselves things are going to get violent, and I wouldn't mind one bit.

 

[Poodles]

Sorry, but anyone wishing for a violent end to all this is foolish :3d_frown:

 

[Doward]

Um... is everyone ignoring the Senate in all of this? All states have equal representation in the Senate.

 

[sk6471]

I agree with the argument that there should be equal representation for the population. That is what the House of Representatives is all about. Maybe they could redraw the districts w/o state lines. If Wyoming doesn't have enough population its district could also include part of another state. Some founding fathers wanted a population based Democratic Congress and some wanted an equal state based Republic Congress. This is why we have a hybrid system with a bicameral Congress - one that's supposed to represent the population equally and one that represents each state equally.

 

[Supracentral]

Um... is everyone ignoring the Senate in all of this? All states have equal representation in the Senate.

I agree with the argument that there should be equal representation for the population. That is what the House of Representatives is all about. Maybe they could redraw the districts w/o state lines. If Wyoming doesn't have enough population its district could also include part of another state. Some founding fathers wanted a population based Democratic Congress and some wanted an equal state based Republic Congress. This is why we have a hybrid system with a bicameral Congress - one that's supposed to represent the population equally and one that represents each state equally.

There is a problem with our current bicameral system. The 17th Amendment passed in 1912 really fucked one of the major checks and balances in the system. (You'll note that we really didn't start going downhill until after this amendment...)

The original intent was that the House of Representatives existed to represent the people's rights and the will of the people. The Senate existed to represent the rights of the sovereign states and the will of the state government. Remember, we are a collective of formerly sovereign nations. Those nations didn't join this union just to get run over by the federal government.

As such, prior to the 17th amendment senators were elected via the state legislatures and NOT the popular vote as we have today.

After the civil war severely weakened states rights, the passing of the 17th Amendment was the proverbial nail in the coffin for each states continued existence as a sovereign government. It was precursor for, a large move toward the federalism we see today.

Part of correcting the current system would entail the repeal of the 17th Amendment, putting power back in the hands of the state governments.

Seriously, what is the point of having two elected bodies voted for by the same group of people? It's the definition of waste and truly just downright fucking stupid.

Stop and think about this. A senate, elected by state legislatures would likely have prevented the railroading through of the stimulus bills. Because even though the population had handed control of the house over to a very liberal arm of the Democratic party, the states likely would not have. This would have created a true bicameral congress, where both sides had to compromise and negotiate to get any law passed. That was the original intent of the system. It's supposed to be difficult to pass laws. Only during times a great need would such a congress truly band together.

We've tinkered with the excellent system created by the founding fathers just enough to make it dysfunctional.

 

[sk6471]

That sounds like a fair compromise. Repeal the 17th amendment and redistrict the House in a more equal manner simultaneously. Then the Senate will represent states as it should and the House will represent the people as it should. One things is for sure, Congressmen wouldn't use the House as a steppingstone to the Senate anymore.

 

[Poodles]

Thanks for the info Mike, I never knew that.

 

[IJ.]

Thread title only makes sense if it's followed by "at the bottom of a pool"....

MORE Government is never a good thing.

 

[91TurboDave]

I agree with you Mike, great point...Problem is that they are never going to allow the repealing of the 17th, it takes power from the federal conglomerate currently in place, and is severly against the status quo. I would love to see it, it would help this country immensly, but who in history has EVER handed back power once attained? Our Federal Government handing back power to the states...unfortunately not going to happen...

 

[Quin]

Fail. Let's take something that doesn't work half as good as it should, and double it in size. Awesome.