One issue with increasing the number of representatives is that you make each individual member less powerful, and consequently centralize power in the parties (and the executive).
I don't think I agree with this. Suppose there were 1 million representatives, each with ~330 constituents. This is untenable, sure, but imagine this were the case. Would a body like that even be capable of having votes on party lines? Would a body like that even be capable of operating as a two party system?
Then, the academic cases, wouldn't a body like that make it more likely to have other parties have a larger role in national politics?
I'd say since the house is supposed to be a democratic institution, the only one in the federal government, making individual members less powerful is a good thing. If the body is supposed to represent the population directly, the less powerful each individual is in the body the less oligarchic that body will be.
The Senate is so different from the house that I don't think it is worth it to make a comparison. Much better to compare to other legislatures for large population nation states, like Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, Australia, and Nigeria.
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One issue with increasing the number of representatives is that you make each individual member less powerful, and consequently centralize power in the parties (and the executive).
I don't think I agree with this. Suppose there were 1 million representatives, each with ~330 constituents. This is untenable, sure, but imagine this were the case. Would a body like that even be capable of having votes on party lines? Would a body like that even be capable of operating as a two party system?
Then, the academic cases, wouldn't a body like that make it more likely to have other parties have a larger role in national politics?
I'd say since the house is supposed to be a democratic institution, the only one in the federal government, making individual members less powerful is a good thing. If the body is supposed to represent the population directly, the less powerful each individual is in the body the less oligarchic that body will be.
Unlike the senate where all the power rests in Joe Manchins hands
In a senate that's split 50-50, Joe Manchin has exactly as much power as every other Senator. Right now he's just the only one willing to use it.
The Senate is so different from the house that I don't think it is worth it to make a comparison. Much better to compare to other legislatures for large population nation states, like Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, Australia, and Nigeria.