A Broken System

I originally thought of this in 1986—on my own I might add, though occasionally I've seen other people write about it since then—and after failing to get it published at that time nevertheless liked it so much, and thought it so important, that I would tirelessly contrive to bring it into conversations, usually preceded by the question "do you have any idea when the US House of Representatives increased its size to 435?" Only one person (Sidney Blumenthal) ever got that right.† Over almost twenty years now I must've asked many hundreds of people, perhaps even into a thousand or more, most being well above average in intelligence, educational background, and socio-economic status. Not scientific, but more than merely anecdotal. In short, it's probably fair to assume that 99% of the American public takes it for granted that the way our system of government is designed the number of seats in the US House of Representatives, just as in the US Senate, never changes, nor is meant to change. But nothing could be further from the truth.

The clear intent of the Constitution, through its provision for a census, was for the number of seats in the House to increase along with population. And it did, for many years (read my article linked above). All it takes for this increase is a majority vote, though at this point changing the system might well be opposed by the Senate and/or the President, which would lead to very complex wrangling. For what it's worth, after my article appeared a former Historian of the House (an official position) told me in his view it is correct that only a majority vote is required. In any case, the critical point to keep in mind is that increases in the size of the House are just a legislative process, and not one of constitutional change.

What's missing is our consciousness of Why we have had increases in the past. The Fathers of our country understood, and we've forgotten, that it is necessary to keep members of the House of Representatives, who are the basic link between the Federal government and the public, closely connected to the public. Without that link the whole government floats off into its own world and cannot but ultimately turn in predatory fashion against its citizens.

Look at a quick comparison with the UK, and Europe generally. Despite populations over there having increased just as ours has, they've managed to continue all along to increase the size of their legislatures. In the UK a member of the House of Commons represents about 70,000 people. The median size of a legislative district in the EU is 45,000. Whereas a member of the US House of Representatives represents about 680,000. Indeed, in an international comparison the US is an extreme outlier in terms of its 'non-representative' nature. Even China has smaller legislative districts!

It is a plain fact: with districts the size of ours ordinary people are completely shut out of the political process. And people instinctively know that's true. It's why a lot of people don't bother to vote. And why a lot of those who do vote don't go wild when it's made perfectly clear that their votes are stolen through unauditable electronic vote machines. And why it's so hard to organize people for progressive policy proposals, despite the large majority of Americans who favor them. We've become political zombies to such a degree we can't even remember why, or how, political activism used to matter.

To my mind this is the single necessary (and perhaps sufficient) reform for American government. Without it I fail to see how the tentacles of money can be prised out of the system. And I predict, with certainty, that unless some modicum of representative democracy can be restored the system as it stands now—on its accelerating totalitarian trajectory—will destroy itself and the country along with it within only a few generations.

†Technically there are two correct answers, though obviously I aimed at the former, 1913; the addition of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959 added two seats, bringing the House to 437 for several years until national redistricting dropped the total back to 435.

Photo of Capitol thanks to Google Earth