Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Senate malaportionment is irritating.

Yglesias » Senate Malaportionment:

Image via Yglesias.
Obviously, the higher the line goes, the less represented the citizens of those states (CA, TX, NY, FL, & IL) are in the more august *cough* of the two legislative bodies. The idea that the citizens of smaller states (WY, VT, ND, AK, SD) need to be protected from citizens of the larger states was questionable at the founding, it's even more dubious now. I don't know if answer is to periodically use the census data to give or take a Senate seat, do away with the Senate, or combine some of the smaller states (do we really need two Dakotas?)? The bicameral legislative branch just seems antiquated and inefficient. If nothing else, the roles of the House and Senate should be reversed to minimize the effect of inadequate representation of the citizens of large states. Let's mix it up a little, do some experimenting. The system as it stands is so broken it would be all but impossible to make it worse by making it more fair and representative.
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