The House of Representatives has been stuck at 435 members since 1930. Our population has more than doubled since then from 120 million people to 300 million people. Has the "people's" house become as distant as the Senate? One man thinks it's time to enlarge the membership of the House. Your take?
Go big or go home!
I think enlarging Congress would allow for more representation of the people. In 1929 the US population was a lot smaller then it is today, and we need more than 435 members to accurately represent the people. According to the article, it has also been proven that governments that have more representatives has been more successful. Having more people represent the people allows for a more accurate voice in what the people want. This enlargement of Congress can also allow for more 3rd party representation, which will expand the people's voice from more than just the normal 2 party system. I see more benefits in enlarging the amount of people on congress, instead of leaving it to a smaller size.
ReplyDelete-Wyatt Lemoine Period:2
The author's argument has certain perks that might entice some people upset with the way congress is being ran, but personally I do not agree with increasing the size of Congress. The argument against the current size of congress is that it doesn't fairly represent the population of the citizens in our country, but rather than our government solely mirroring the entire public's opinion, it is better that they mediate it and decide what is ultimately best for the people even if it is not everyone's opinion. The author also argues that congress now has slow progress, but if you think this current number we have results in slow progress, what will happen if we increase it to 100,000? Or even 1,000? This will only slow down congress even more, and will lead to more deadlocks. More people means more conflicting opinions, and this would cause slower progress. The author's argument to incorporate modern day technologies to govern is also a bad idea, because this will bring about possible security threats, such as hackings, into the policy making process. Instead of increasing the size of congress we should instead strengthen the relationship between congress and the people that they represent.
ReplyDeleteSharen Moniqca, period 2
Increasing the size of congress will do nothing to improve how represented the people feel by their representative. The root of the problem is that running for congress is very expensive, and a congressman is a well paying job, so congressman are always focused on getting re-elected. Because it is so expensive to run a campaign, congressmen will always vote according to the interest groups that fund their campaign. The best solution might be for the Federal gov to fund campaigns for Congress so that no interest groups will have big strings attached to the candidates and the congressmen know they will have sufficient money to run for re-election and can focus on doing their job best because all candidates will have enough money to run a campaign, so the only thing separating candidates would be their ideas.
ReplyDeleteOmar Moiz
Period 2