The Senate is broken and can’t be fixed
- January 11, 2010
- 2 comments
- Posted in Latest Posts, The Economy
Don’t expect the the day-care center, otherwise known as the Senate, to speak for all America. It’s structured to speak for the small states, not the big ones where most of the people are. Rural America rules and gets to make the decisions for everyone else.
Just look at the numbers. Nine powerhouse states, such as California, Florida and New York, contain more than half the population and produce 80 percent of the gross national product. Among them, they have 18 votes (there are two Senators per state). The states that produce the remaining 20 percent of GDP have 86 votes.
The most populous states are also the most urban/suburban, the most ethnically diverse, the best educated and pay the most in federal taxes. The smallest states, by population, are more rural, more white (except for Hawaii and New Mexico), less well educated and shoulder less of the cost of keeping the country running. They also get more of the federal benefits.
The Framers of the Constitution created two Senators per state to prevent the big states from dominating the small ones, but it hasn’t worked out that way. The concerns of the smaller, rural states now trump everything else. Cities and their suburbs are hugely underrepresented in the Senate. States with more space than people–and little understanding of urban needs and values–impose their views on the country as a whole. Rural states are less interested in the problems of handguns in urban areas, less interested in health reform, more inflexible about abortion and less open to giving legal immigrants access to government services such as Medicaid. (If they’re legal, why not?) Because of they’re numbers, they’re also less inclined to compromise on legislation.
The Senate can’t be fixed because the two-per-state rule is embedded in the Constitution. But two things can be fixed. First, the 60-vote rule, requiring 60 Senators to say Aye to pass a bill. This lets 21 states, with 10 percent of the population, stop a bill that 90 percent of the population wants. Second, the one-person-hold tradition that lets any single Senator put a hold on a Presidential nomination, to win a special-interest concession or influence policy. The hold isn’t lifted until the Senator gets what he or she wants. Where does the Constitution say that one vote can trump the other 103?
The public is growing enraged at the Senate’s dysfunction, the day-care food fights, and the petty toying with public business for private or electoral gain. It’s enough to make me want to pick up a pitchfork myself.
Tags: government dysfunction, Senate
Hi Jane,
First of all I just wanted to thank you for a great appearance on WGN’s Ext. 720 last evening, you were extremely knowledgeable and informative on investing in today’s markets.
As for the US Senate, I agree with you completely and some of these so called senators should be ashamed of themselves for going against the will of majority of the American people and cast votes based on their egos rather than the well being of the citizens and the country, specially during these difficult economical periods.
A so called Independent Senator from CT is the biggest “snake in the grass”!
the state of our political bickering, and grandstanding makes me sick. nothing gets done. politicians are working in the interests of their corporate sponsors more than for their constituents and/or the country. i’m a boomer and for the first time in my life, from time to time, i consider moving to another country. in my eyes, our two party political system is getting worse and more dysfunctional. i often wonder, does my vote even count anymore?