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Originally posted by wittywonkaWhat we really need to do is to send them all home! (However many we have - they should never be allowed to gather in one place ever again - the internet can work for all meetings, correspondence and official business.) If you want to lobby all of congress you should have to travel to every single district to make your case. It would put constituents on the same level playing field as lobbyists (for once.)
Food for thought: to make the US House more representative of the electorate, why not literally...make it more proportionally representative? Why not increase the number of seats from 435 to, say, 1000?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/09/opinion/flynn-expand-congress/index.html
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Originally posted by moon1969Sure, get them to become a state so that the nanny state can pay them to stay on the island unemployed.
As another aside, we are doing the brain drain on Puerto Rico.
[quote] Puerto Rico's population exodus is all about jobs
MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico— Here, about 100 miles from the tourist-filled beaches, cobblestone streets and historic forts of Old San Juan and the imposing cruise ships docked near the walled city, the main attraction has little to do wit tory/2012-03-11/puerto-rico-economy-brain-drain-exodus/53490820/1
Nice.
Originally posted by moon1969I guess that is what motivates those on the left. Your every waking hour is spent trying to figure out a way to gain more power.
Though it would be nice to get the two Democrat senators from a Puerto Rico state. Would help the Dems get the super majority needed to overcome the obstructionist party of No.
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Originally posted by whodeyIf Puerto Rico or Washington, D.C. had the political demographics of Mississippi, I bet a few more Republicans would have sponsored legislation to give them voting representation in Congress, too.
I guess that is what motivates those on the left. Your every waking hour is spent trying to figure out a way to gain more power.
Regardless, though--that there are political benefits to a situation does not deligitimize the practical ones.
Originally posted by whodeyI do not think Puerto Rico becoming a state would slow their brain drain. In other words, Puerto Rico college graduates would continue at the same rate to seek employment on the mainland, independent of whether Puerto Rico becomes a state.
Sure, get them to become a state so that the nanny state can pay them to stay on the island unemployed.
Nice.
By the way, Puerto Rico without statehood already has just as much a social net as the rest of the country. Not sure the basis of your comment or what it meant.
Puerto Rico would hot change much if it became a state. In all, the most significant change would be the addition of two Democrat senators to a 102-member Senate.
Originally posted by wittywonkaMy point here is that no one looks to improve the system, they only look to empower themselves.
If Puerto Rico or Washington, D.C. had the political demographics of Mississippi, I bet a few more Republicans would have sponsored legislation to give them voting representation in Congress, too.
Regardless, though--that there are political benefits to a situation does not deligitimize the practical ones.
Originally posted by moon1969But if we added Puerto Rico, Obama might think there are 58 states.
I do not think Puerto Rico becoming a state would slow their brain drain. In other words, Puerto Rico college graduates would continue at the same rate to seek employment on the mainland, independent of whether Puerto Rico becomes a state.
By the way, Puerto Rico without statehood already has just as much a social net as the rest of the country. Not ...[text shortened]... e most significant change would be the addition of two Democrat senators to a 102-member Senate.
Originally posted by whodeyMy point is that personal gain should not matter if the reform genuinely is improving the system. Puerto Rico aside, I genuinely think Congress should at least include D.C. in Congressional voting representation. Surely you of all people can sympathize with the "taxation without representation" cause there. And no, I don't know whether I would be advocating as much if D.C. had political demographics like Mississippi, but I would like to believe I would.
My point here is that no one looks to improve the system, they only look to empower themselves.
Originally posted by wittywonkaThat's interesting.
I'd never head of this before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Rule
I think this would be a reasonabe minimum standard for increasing the number of seats.
Increasing the number of representatives in the House and such that the ratio of rep to population were the same across the country, also would seem to remedy somewhat the disparity in the electoral college where a person's vote essentially counts more in a low-populous state like Wyoming? Though, there will always be the disparate weight of counting the two senators.