The U.S. Constitution gives an equal number of senators (2) to each state, regardless of population. This means that the states with very small populations (e.g., Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota) have the same power in the Senate as do the states with very huge populations (e.g., California, New York, Illinois). The small-population states tend to be more white and more Republican, while the bigger states tend to be more diverse and more Democratic. The correlations are not perfect, but the tendencies are strong.
Republicans have half of U.S. Senators, but represent FAR LESS than half of U.S. population. The ten least populous states have a combined 7.9 million residents but throw equal weight in the senate to the ten representing 164 million Americans. How can we fix this? https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-senate-is-5050-yet-america-is
A politically savvy friend wrote about this and sent me what he had written. Here is a summary (with my editing for length):
Everyone knows that white people are about to become a minority in the United States, and that this change has already taken place amongst the youth population. It is also obvious that a lot of white people are very uncomfortable with that inevitability and are trying to counter that trend.
Another demographic change will be much more important for political representation in the federal government. When writing the Constitution, a compromise was made with the slave states. Now the 576,851 people who live in Wyoming have the same number of senators as the 39,538,223 people who live in California. Someone has figured out that by 2040, 75% of the American population will be living in just 5 states. If true, this means that 25% of the American population will soon be choosing 90% of the US senators — and this 25% of our population will be much older and much whiter than the other 75% of our population.
In January 2022, another person wrote an article, and I have incorporated parts of that into my writing here:
After Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined 50 Republicans to oppose 48 Senate Democrats fighting for voting rights, a number of people responded by saying how angry, sad and scared they were.
Part of the outrage was that the 48 Democrats represent 34 MILLION more Americans than 52 senators who voted against democracy. The Senate is ALREADY rigged for minority rule, and the 60-vote filibuster procedure makes it even worse.
Part of the sadness and fear is that American democracy itself — the ability to cast votes and fairly count votes — is likely gone if Trump Republicans seize control of the election machinery in 2022.
Relatively few Members of Congress are pushing hard to protect voting rights and to expand democracy. One necessary step is to abolish the filibuster, which PREVENTS the Senate from solving our nation’s problems.
