A friend sent me this graphic. Each differently colored area represents a land mass in the United States with a population equivalent to that of California. In some instances, the same number of people have thirty senators to California’s two.
Now, I realize this is the result of the much vaunted and praised “Connecticut Compromise”, allegedly proposed by our very own Roger Sherman. However, I question whether the infallible Founders ever foresaw just how lopsided the Senate would become. In his better days Madison actually toyed with the idea of getting rid of them altogether.
In any event, this map shows why the racist, “religious” (hate for Jesus) and “libertarian” (free stuff for me, but not for thee) mentality has such power in Congress, despite the fact that the adherents to these philosophies represent an ever decreasing proportion of the country. While it is true that each of us Connecticut residents is worth more than one Californian (and who can argue with that), the real advantage goes to the slack jawed yokels.
Additional thought: This reminds me of the rotten boroughs that once rendered the House of Commons as unrepresentative as our modern Senate. One advantage of having an unwritten Constitution is that it’s easier to deal with anomalies like this. Our Constitution, having long since become holy writ, will never be amended to deal with our rotten Senate, because the method we use to amend the Constitution gives veto power to …guess who: the same states that benefit from the current imbalance.
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