https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/13-colonies/338325
The alliance of 13 independent states to become the United States of America enshrined the notion of “minority representation” in the US constitution. North versus South. Different religious majorities. Rural versus urban. Domestic versus international leaning. Free versus Slave.
We should embrace that principle but fine-tune the mechanism. Two senators per state when the population was just 3 million was a practical compromise. The US population reached 300 million in 2006; 100 times larger. The numerical and proportional differences today are simply too large to ignore. Louisiana and Kentucky at 4.6 million people are the median states. The average state population is 6.6 million today. 5 states, SD, ND, AL, VT and WY have less than 1 million citizens. They get 5 to 7 times more representation than the “typical” state. I recommend that we accept this difference as a way to preserve “minority representation” and the legitimacy of our democratic system.
On the top side, four states stand out. California (39M), Texas (30M), Florida (22M) and New York (20M) have populations 5-8 times the median and 3-6 times the average population. [For perspective, note that California’s population today is 13 times as large as the whole country in 1780.] I recommend that these four states be given 2 extra Senators since they have more than 4 times the median state population. Seven states have populations more than twice as large as the median 9M: PA, IL, OH, GA, NC, MI and NJ. I recommend they each get an additional Senator. [California (19x), Texas (15x), Florida (11x) and New York (10x) after these changes are still less represented than the dozen states with populations of just one million, rounded; just not so disproportionately.]
This change would add 15 Senators. It would dilute the “minority representation” of the other 39 states by 15%.
Fortunately, the political impact of this change would be modest, so both parties can support this improvement in political legitimacy. CA and NY are Democratic locks, while Texas and Florida are Republican locks. Illinois and New Jersey are Democratic locks, while Ohio is a Republican lock. Pennsylvania and Michigan lean left, while Georgia and North Carolina lean right. Net, net this change adds one Democratic Senator out of the new 115 seats, an immaterial number.
The Senate is a very important part of our government. It acts as a check on the more representative and responsive House. It approves treaties, constitutional amendments, judges and presidential appointments. The number of Senators drives the size of the electoral college. Changes should not be made without due consideration.
My Republican colleagues might reject this “out of hand” because it costs them a Senate seat today and it reduces the future leverage of less populated states. I think that the legitimacy of our government, to prevent populist winners and civil war is reason enough to “fine tune” our system. Republican oriented Texas and Florida are growing faster than California and New York, so their citizens are the most “disenfranchised” by the current system in the future. A revision might block the pressure to admit DC and PR as states. Four of the five next least populous states are likely Democratic states in the future: DE, RI, ME, NH versus MT, which has some Democratic voting potential. The next, Hawaii, is a Democratic lock. In the next five, KS, NE and WV are safe Republican seats, but Idaho and New Mexico could follow Colorado and Nevada into the other party’s column.
It’s time for all Americans to step out of their partisan comfort zones and think about what is best for the country in the long-term. This is a reasonable change that everyone should support.
https://www.statsamerica.org/sip/rank_list.aspx?rank_label=pop1
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/heres-how-fix-senate/579172/
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/10/politics/small-states-supreme-court/index.html
https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2019/4/9/18300749/senate-problem-electoral-college
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