Bill Maher questions our U.S Senate system

[BillBrown]

True.
One minor correction- in 1787 New York was not a large state.
The large states were Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
The rest of them were considered small states.

[WuWei]

@PurpnGold

@Jezcoe

Bill Maher tends to say pretty dumb things.

It is unfair…in 2019. But it wasn’t when they were trying to ratify the constitution.

I also understand that things like that can’t always be fair. It was a compromise to get a union. It will also NEVER be changed since you need 100% (I believe) of the states to agree to change that.

How is it “unfair”?

[WuWei]

@Jezcoe

@PurpnGold

@Jezcoe

Bill Maher tends to say pretty dumb things.

It is unfair…in 2019. But it wasn’t when they were trying to ratify the constitution.

I also understand that things like that can’t always be fair. It was a compromise to get a union. It will also NEVER be changed since you need 100% (I believe) of the states to agree to change that.

Personally I think the system that allows for the smaller population states to have power is overall a good thing as long as there is an environment where compromise can happen and the Senate isn’t ruled over by a power hungry turtle.

But that might be a separate issue.

Harry Reid is retired.

[WuWei]

@PurpnGold

Since the people elect the senators… why aren’t senators more representative of the people?

And there you have it.

[WuWei]

@PurpnGold

@thinkingman

because they know better that the founders evidently…

What did the founders know about having a state that was 70x larger than another?

Everything.

[WuWei]

@Jezcoe

@Impenitent

RI - 1545 square miles
VA (currently) - 42774 square miles
VA in 1776 (included that lands of KY and WV) 107412 square miles (69.522 times as big)

Congress represents people, not land.

…

[calirepub]

@BillBrown

@calirepub

If California wants more representation in the Senate all they have to do is split into smaller states, like the Carolinas did.

I don’t see anything in the Constitution that allows a state to split itself up.
The Carolinas were split long before the Constitution was adopted.

Virginia then.

[SeaManatee]

We should colonize the moon, turn it into a state, and then the entire moooon gets the same representation as Rhode Island too.

[conan]

Because the senate isn’t suppose to represent the people…it’s suppose to represent the state.

[Konssurvative1]

It’s been fine for over 200 years. Now everyone wants a trophy for participating. Why do the big states want all the power over the small states?..to chose presidents, to have more of the votes. The way I always understood it is that the senate represented the states. The house represented the people in the states.

Now everybody wants to stack the deck.

[WuWei]

@PurpnGold

@WuWei

The Senate does not represent the population. That’s why. A simple reading of The Papers explains it very clearly.

Then the population shouldn’t vote for them. They should be state appointed.

They were. I agree. This is what happens when you start tinkering with a complex system.

[WuWei]

@JayJay

@PurpnGold

@WuWei

The Senate does not represent the population. That’s why. A simple reading of The Papers explains it very clearly.

Then the population shouldn’t vote for them. They should be state appointed.

You mean…like they used to be before the 17th Amendment passed?

Exactly. The 17th is the worst legislation ever passed.

[JayJay]

@BillBrown

@calirepub

If California wants more representation in the Senate all they have to do is split into smaller states, like the Carolinas did.

I don’t see anything in the Constitution that allows a state to split itself up.
The Carolinas were split long before the Constitution was adopted.

Article IV Section 3 allows it if the legislature, the people and the Congress all assent to it.

This was brought up when West Virginia became a state…there was a question whether all the necessary permissions were obtained. Virginia v West Virginia settled that in 1871.

[Konssurvative1]

It’s a power grab from smaller republican states. In the center, so the coasts can run everything.

[conan]

There was reason for that…and that reason hold true today just as it did back then.

Nothing had changed except how they get selected.

[conan]

Nothing changed…the reasons remain the same today as it did back then.

[conan]

You still didn’t explain why it’s different today then it was 240 years ago.

[FloridaYankee]

@BillBrown

@FloridaYankee

It still requires 3/4 of the states for a constitutional amendment, so smaller states do have that bit of protection.

Equal Senate suffrage can’t be amended- per Article V.

I think it’s fine just the way it is.

[Snow96]

I did.

You basically said it was “fair” to get the constitution passed.

But now (what 200+ years later) it’s no longer fair?

Was it fair 100 years ago? How about 150 years? How about 50 years?

Tell me what is unfair about it other than it was used to pass the constitution.

[conan]

Who creates our laws?