Ooh, did that involve a lawsuit in regards to our overseas soldiers? That vaguely rings a bell.
Alabama and Minnesota are losing seats
Two states that couldnāt more different. Iām curious why you chose to name those two specifically out of the large group that are losing a seat?
If weāre going to keep talking about losing/gaining congressional seats, though, why is everyone just content with the rules we got now? Whatever happened to dreaming bigger???
In case you forgot from high school civics, the Constitution only says the number of seats in the House needs to be related to the Census. It does not say anything about how many seats (or citizens represented per seat) are there, so it wonāt take a constitutional amendment to go in and change that.
So why are we stuck with 435 seats? Itās because this law from 1929 froze the number of representatives in the House at 435, and no one has bothered to change it. As a result, over 700k citizens are represented by a single congressman on average today compared to under 300k back then and we have to have these weird fights over states gaining or losing seats for less-than-obvious reasons.
Important disclaimer though... (click me)
Iām not saying that we should have a purely proportional ratio of citizens-to-reps, either. Thereās a constitutional amendment stuck in limbo that does just that, and it would involve putting about 6000 people into Congress. Thatās dysfunctional and insane in its own right.
But I think itās still possible to have representation in the House that represents citizens and taxpayers better (instead of being the source for some obscure drama on Politico headlines). Itās not like thatās thee only alternative⦠(alt. 1; alt. 2)
Really, any form of discrete representation runs into cases that defy common sense, but I digress.
Like sure, shitting on Alabama is fun. But theyāre also full-fledged states just like North Carolina (also I was born there); isnāt it kind of messed up that weāre talking about fellow Americans losing voting power because of stochastic karma?
I mean there will always be stochastic karma regardless of the actual number. Youād actually have more if you increase the representative pool.
But that is a fair point. The downsides would be increasing gerrymandering and (likely) money. The question then becomes if a representative ratio of 1:500,000 instead of 1:750,000 is beneficial enough to offset the downsides. Iām not sure Iām smart enough to know the answer, though my first reaction is more politicians is probably not my first instinct for fixing DC.
I do remember Utah filing a law suit, but I donāt remember the details.
What is your weird obsession with hating on Alabama?
And yeah, I do take it personally. My career brought me here, but I chose to stay.
I agree totally that the number of repās needs to be increased. I think that one of the greatest danger in a republic is when government becomes too distant. Congresscriters represent way to many people at this point. This artificial cap also makes the US House one of the most undemocratic chambers in the world, representation-wise. Canada, with ~35 mil has a Commons of 300+, the Russian Duma has like 1100 members for 110 mil. We donāt need a 1000 representative (the demands for offices, staffs, pensions, health care would bankrupt us, lol) But I don think we need to grow this number.
2nd, I donāt see shitting on Alabama as fun. Why donāt yāall pick on someplace like Charlotte.
Stopped one time at a gas station off of Hank Williams highway in Bama. A little shack BBQ place is in the parking lot owned by this African American family playing country tunes. The best BBQ of my life, the sauce is so good you donāt even try and wipe your face, you just smile!
I was today years old when I realized that Raleigh (city) has a greater population than Durham & Orange Counties combined.
Whatās the saying - or ad tag line - sauce so good youāll slap your mamma!
BBQ is different here, and not as great as NC imho, but there are a lot of good places, a variety of styles and sauces.
Fascinating. I knew that more than half the Triangleās population was in Wake County, but this was new to me.
Personally I think the last thing in the world we need is more politicians. Keep it locked down at 435, and somehow get all of them, House and senate, term limited.
By and large theyāre so out of touch with us, I donāt want it even worse by having more of them.
Happy New year!
How about we add a wealth limit to those serving us at the House level? If our lower chamber is supposed to be representative of our individual districts within our states, why are so many of us represented by a multi-millionaire?
Civicās & Current Events where two of my top favoritesā¦but that is a topic for the Politics sectionā¦
That why I want there metro re-emerges with Raleigh-Cary MSA!!!
Does anyone know Office and Management Number do I can give them my input on refolding the Durham-Chapel Hill MSA back into the Raleigh-Cary MSA???
Fun idea for a New Yearās resolution: using only 1 punctuation mark per sentence instead of 3.
Whatever can you just give me my question!
I honestly donāt know. (Also, I was just joking around. I didnāt mean to be rude.)