Representation

Due to our archaic Constitution, the Senate is controlled by Senators from 26 states, and should those states add up to only 20% of the population, too bad, they’re still calling the shots in that body. Of course, 20% isn’t the proper proportion, because a good percentage of people in those states, sometimes more than half, don’t vote at all. So roughly ten percent of the US population controls the Senate. It gets worse when you consider the narrow margins of victory in many elections: those who voted for the loser aren’t represented in a winner-take-all system.

The Senate, you will recall, was Founded by artisto-wannabes who made no bones of their fear of the unruly and unwashed mass (of white male property owners, the only people enfranchised), and wanted a House of gentleman (they were mostly appointed by governors to the office until the early 20th century) to keep the lid on any potential popular excesses. (In the so-called “People’s House” meanwhile, you may recall that the vaunted Gingrich “Revolution” came about even though 4/5ths of the American people did not vote for it.) It’s little wonder that most Senators are millionaire members of the economic elite, and that it now costs tens of millions to get a seat at that particular banquet.

Solutions (these are just off the top of my head, so I’m probably missing some good ideas):

Publicly funded campaigns. Of course power will out, and the money will flow, so strict disclosure, equitable air-time, and a vastly more investigative media are needed. (The Supreme Court’s decision in Buckley that money equaled speech was typical of that body’s adherence to elite class power.)

Electoral reform. There are ideas and local examples aplenty: proportional representation, instant run-off, cross-endorsement, non-partisan administration of registration & ballot access, an Election Day holiday.

Constitutional reform.

Citizenship. An informed, participating citizenry… imagine that.