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Re-apportioning the House & electoral college

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by rlvaughn, Dec 3, 2018.

  1. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Salty said:
    Not really - if all districts were equal - than a congressman would represent some 750,000 citizens.

    But Wyoming only has a population of 585,000 well below the average.

    So another small state has a population of 750,000. How many reps would they get? If 2 - then each one represents 325,000
     
  2. FollowTheWay

    FollowTheWay Well-Known Member
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    One because otherwise the smallest district would be 325K and everything recalculated.
     
  3. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Here is the list of the least popular state/commonwealths

    ---------------------------------------------------------# of reps
    35 Kansas ...............2,907,289 ..................4
    36 New Mexico ...... 2,081,015 ..................3
    37 Nebraska ...........1,907,116 ..................3
    38 West Virginia ......1,831,102 ..................3
    39 Idaho ..................1,683,140.................. 2
    40 Hawaii ...............1,428,557.................. 2
    41 New Hampshire 1,350,575 .................. 2
    42 Maine ............... 1,341,582 ..................2
    43 Montana ............1,062,330 ..................2
    44 Rhode Island ......1,061,712 ..................1
    45 Delaware ...............971,180 ..................1
    46 South Dakota .........877,790.................. 1
    47 North Dakota ..........755,238 ..................1
    48 Alaska .....................738,068 ..................1
    49 District of Columbia .703,608 ..................1
    50 Vermont ..................623,960 ..................1
    51 Wyoming .................573,720 ..................1

    FTW - In your opinion - how many reps should each of the above listed
    States/Commonwealths have?
     
  4. RighteousnessTemperance&

    RighteousnessTemperance& Well-Known Member

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    Let’s focus on what is really at stake. Listen to what they are saying and what it would really mean. From the article (emphasis added, as well as []):

    Rebalancing the House would be healthy for lots of reasons. Among them, urban areas would finally have equal weight, and federal dollars might start flowing in proportion to where more people live [including sanctuaried illegal aliens and non-citizens].

    And while small states would lose some clout, as long as they all send two senators to Washington, they would still have an outsized say in government.​

    The ratio of congressmen to senators has stayed between 3.50 and 5.05 since 1793, and between 3.95 and 4.53 since 1873, with an overall average of 4.30. The ratio was stabilized at 4.35 50 years ago. There are no good reasons to change that ratio.

    Smaller states only joined the union with the understanding that they would not be overwhelmed by the larger. Further increasing seats in congress would not be a good thing. Urban areas already have far too much representative power.
     
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  5. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    So how would do it?
     
  6. RighteousnessTemperance&

    RighteousnessTemperance& Well-Known Member

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    Also, remember that what they propose (adding electors per population) aims to give more power to urban areas so that they further affect the presidential vote. They would prefer mob rule, or as close to it as they can get.
     
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  7. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    This post shows you do not understand the electoral college or the founding of the country.
     
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  8. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    FTW - can you provide a link for the proposed amendment?
     
  9. RighteousnessTemperance&

    RighteousnessTemperance& Well-Known Member

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    He did. It’s the first one in the PDF linked in "constitutional amendment."
     
  10. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    However the COTUS Article 1 - Section 2 - states in part : "The number of representatives shall not exceed one
    for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative..." Thus the proposed amendment was unnecessary.

    NO!!!

    15 States/Commonwealths have 3 or less Representatives, for a total of 26 members.
    26 members = 5.97% of the House.

    So please explain how those 15 States/Commonwealths can have any real power with only 5% of the vote.
    And keep in mind - in this day and age - Representation, in the House for the most part, is no longer based on
    States/Commonwealths but rather on political affiliation. -


    NOW - seeing that the House is based more on politics - how about this solution:

    Representation would be based on party affiliation, utilizing voter registration roles.
    If the Democrats have 39.2% of all registered voters - then the Democratic Party
    (thur popular vote) would have 39.2% of the House (39.2 divide by 435 = 170 reps.
    If the Green Party has 1.4 % of registered voters - their allocation would be 4 seats.
    If the (Jerry) Farwell/Pat Robertson Party has 0.44% = 2 House seats.
     
  11. church mouse guy

    church mouse guy Well-Known Member
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    How about leaving the American Republic alone!
     
  12. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    So you are saying you disapprove of the 27 amendments to the COTUS?
     
  13. church mouse guy

    church mouse guy Well-Known Member
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    Thank you! I see that my statement is vague. I intended it to be specific about the structure of Congress and the Electoral College, which I do not want changed. Why should I? I am from a smaller state with a mostly rural or small town population in the middle of the rust belt. We had eight years of stagnation and decay under Obama and if the Democrats could extract more money from rural people, then city people would reduce us to absolute poverty and starvation while they spent the country into another Cuba. Remember the Democrats are not the CEOs of the large companies.

    I am not so sure that I like the one where Pelosi is in line to be President. And no one likes the one about the income tax. But on the issue of changing the setup of the Congress or the Electoral College, I want no changes.
     
  14. FollowTheWay

    FollowTheWay Well-Known Member
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    The link is in the quote, "constitutional amendment."
     
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