Wyoming, with its half-million residents, is the least populated state. It will award 12 delegates based on the results of the caucuses, with 6 others who could go to the convention uncommitted.There are more than double the amount of people in my native San Fernando Valley than there are in that entire state--and yet, not only does that state get to send 18 delegates to the Democratic convention, it also gets three votes in the electoral college and two US Senators. That's a lot of representation for half a million people.
People have all sorts of arguments as to why I should be thrilled that Americans in the boondocks should arbitrarily be rewarded with super-representation in the federal government while I, a lowly Californian, must make due with my small fraction thereof. They say that there needs to be a regional balance of power, and that if representation were made strictly proportional by population, than states like Wyoming would be virtually voiceless.
But this is bunk. If representation were proportional, states like Wyoming would have precisely as much representation as they should have--which is no more and no less than any other set of half million Americans. Arbitrarily granting more representation for rural areas does nothing but distort politics to favor their agenda, so that everyone ends up having to pay lots of taxes for farm subsidies and endure politicians' lauding of ethanol as the savior of humanity against global warming.
It is not as if there must be some undemocratically imposed balance of power between urban and rural regions. Urban concerns should be regarded as more important precisely because that's where all the people are--it's where more resources are used, where more money is made and spent, where more tax revenue is collected, etc.
In the United States, power should track with the individual, and should not be affected by vagaries such as that person's current state of residence.
2 comments:
I, another Californian, totally agree with your point. But I'm sure you understand the historical reasons for the situation: No small state would have ratified the constitution without equal representation in at least one house of Congress, and now that the system is the way it is, it's impossible to undo due to the 2/3 majority required to amend the Constitution.
Solution?
Free the Bear! California Secession Now!
Heehee.. I knew it was only a matter of time before the phrase "free the bear" would be uttered on this blog, esp. with all this talk about the dreaded Connecticut Compromise.
So, yeh, the Senate is here to stay I agree with that--but there's always that workaround to the electoral college where a critical mass of states make a binding compact to vote for the winner of the popular vote...
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