[rayiner]

> Please explain the senate

The Senate is orthogonal to our discussion. It implements the federalist structure of our government, representing the states themselves. That’s why the state legislatures originally appointed Senators. We have muddled up the system through direct election of senators and should probably repeal the 17th amendment.

[seadan83]

The senate was a compromise to give small rural states unequal voting power compared to the more populist states.

The senate is explicitly created to give more power to minorities.

It is not orthogonal. The senate is EXACTLY the mechanism to ensure majoritarian rule is not at the expense of the minority.

The direct election vs not is not consequential. The consequential part is that states get two senators regardless of population.