Dec 05 2006
Growing Congress
The Washington Times is reporting on a move to add two seats to the US House of Representatives: One each for the District of Columbia, and one more for Utah.
This is, essentially, a deal that has been struck to balance the addition of a seat for DC which would be solid (D)socialist, with a "safe" Republican seat. the (D)s have been trying to add the DC seat for a long time, but the (R)s were not about to let it happen without a piece of the action to balance the seat on their side. The glories of a two-party )no thrid parties need apply) system never cease to amaze me.
So, we go from 435 to 437 Representatives. What does that do for the rest of us, outside of DC and Utah? Not much that I can see.
Today, the average Congressman represents 690,000 citizens. This is far more than envisioned by the founders, and far out of proportion with other nations with representative forms of government.
In 1792 the House had 106 members. The number of Representatives grew through the 1800s, though the proportion of citizens to each Rep. grew steadily, but in a reasonable curve.
In 1910, the number of seats was fixed at 433 (with agreement to add 1 each for Arizona and New Mexico when they became states), not to exceed 435 seats. At this point the proportion of Rep.s to those represented became to change dramatically.
What is the result of the current method of capping the number of House seats?
Increasing the amount of power in a proportionally smaller number of hands, with correspondingly less representation of an individual citizen. After all, if I am one of 30,000 constituents, my Representative will give a lot more weight to my positions, than if I am one of 690,000.
Rein Taagepera and Matthew S. Shugart, who analyze apportionment systems around the world, have found that the size of the largest legislative body of a national legislature today tends to be the cube root of the population. This is approximately what the proportions were throughout the 1800s in the US House.
Using this formula, and a base population of 300 million, we would need to grow the House of Representatives to approximately 669 seats.
This would be a very positive thing in that it would reduce and/or dilute the influence of special interests and congressional staffs, and make our Reps at least a LITTLE more responsive, as the new ration would be about 1:448,400 citizens per.
This could easily be made revenue neutral through the simple expedient of NOT increasing the budget for congress. The reps would each get a smaller slice of the existing pie.
I can see that we would need a one time Capitol expenditure to build a new office/residence building (and retrofit the existing) to a common format of One 20'x20' Outer Office, a 12'x12' Inner Office, and a 12'x12' Residence. Sort of a Residence Inn on steroids.
And there is no need to expand the existing House itself, since there is no Constitutional or Realistic requirement for each Rep to have a dedicated chair.
And, as a side effect, we just may get a House of Representatives that spends a little more time representing their constituents…
Crossposted at The American Empire
12 Responses to “Growing Congress”
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Another one for Utah? Please not!
This is an interesting issue. I’d add only one question. Considering the power of communications technolog, is it not reasonable to suggest 435 - or 437 - today "means" much more than it did in 1910?
I don’t have much trouble getting in touch with my Representative, Norm Dicks… All I have to do is look for the nearest stuffy public ceremony. The last time I saw him was at a College function celebrating the pork he brought home to build a new college building…
DC is not constitutionally eligible to have either a House seat or a Senate seat. It would require a constitutional amendment to change that.
The only thing this redirtricting can do for DC is to increase the number of electoral votes the district is entitled to.
A House Seat for D.C. - Not gonna happen…
The D.C. Voting Rights Act is based on the idea that Congress can treat the district as if it were a State. There’s plenty of reason to challenge this act should it ever be passed….
There was a very funny column back in 2001 by Jonah Goldberg on this very subject:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2001/04/20/eliminate_federal_taxes_for_dc_residents
A couple of highlights:
prompted Jesse Jackson, D.C.’s former "shadow senator," to declare, some years ago, that D.C. statehood was "the most important civil rights issue facing America today," which sounds to me like Exhibit A in the argument that America no longer has any important civil rights issues left.
Last month Sen. Joe Lieberman and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton proposed legislation to make the District of Columbia residents exempt from federal taxes. "The ‘No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2001′
Conservatives have a lot more invested than liberals do in the idea that that high taxes are the root of, if not all evil, then a whole lot of evils. According to every economic theory we hold dear, D.C. would become Monaco on the Potomac overnight; it would be the richest, most beautiful city in the world.
As the District became grander and grander, the benefits of low - or no - taxes would be hammered home. The District’s 25 million annual tourists would see a New Athens in the making, and they would take home the lesson that great things are possible when government gets out of the way.
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