[zw123456]

I think that a solution this problem as well as many others like undo influence, too much money needed and so on, could be solved by increasing the number of representatives. I believe that the only stipulations in the constitution is that each state must have at least one and that a representative cannot represent less than 30K citizens. The number was frozen 35 in 1911 by the house, but they could change that if they wanted to without changing the constitution.

The reason I think this would help on a number of levels is as follows 1) Gerrymandering becomes more difficult if there are a lot more districts. 2) influence peddling and lobbying is diluted if there are more representatives. 3) the voter can have more influence and contact with their representative if their congress person represents a smaller sized constituency.

I think arguments around the size of the building (the capital) are silly, who cares where they meet, it can be in a stadium, or even better why bother having them all in Washington DC. it can all be done with telepresence in todays world and then you as a citizen could go down to say the court house and sit in the audience as your representatives interact via telepresence.

I get it that perhaps all this seems crazy or whatever, but none of it would require any changes to the constitution. It could be done by the House itself with no consent from the Senate or President.

[undersuit]

Prior to the Civil War our Representatives voted and worked from the same desk, the one they had in the Capitol Building in the House Chambers.

Now they have offices and support staff. Why don't we just convert those ~5000 support staff( and their offices ) into a much more representative democracy?

[zw123456]

Perfect, I agree completely.

[H8crilA]

It seems that across countries the size of the parlament is proportional to the square root of the population size:

https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/364/is-there-an...

[zw123456]

Interesting. I am not sure what the underlying basis of the cube root is, but the population of the U.S. has gone from 80 million to 340 million since 1911 and the size of the assembly has not changed in that period. I think it is an overlooked aspect that could be at the root of a many problems.

Also , no states have been added in over 60years , it is time D.C. And Puerto Rico get state hood.

[padobson]

I don't mind elevating the autonomy of D.C., but there was a reason D.C. was created in the first place - so that no state would have too much power by containing the capital. It shouldn't become a full state.

I'd rather dissolve D.C. and re-institute the original state boundaries of Maryland and Virginia than elevate a district to a state.