This would violate one of the central promises of the union which was that the large populous areas would not be able to dictate to the smaller regions and would instead be forced to compromise with them. We seem poised to start expanding the union again in the coming decades. Imagine how much more difficult it would be to get smaller Mexican states or central American countries to agree to join the union if they believed they would have no say in running their local after doing so.
I understand where you are coming from as the US is so homogenous now thanks to 250 years of interstate population movement that the delineations seem arbitrary and unfair, but they were very distinct separate regions once upon a time and looking forward the regions we hope to bring into our union are more different than the average American than similar so these same protections will be critical to the effort.
That is the unconvincing argument for the (extremely) undemocratic Senate. The House is supposed to reflect the will of the people which is why we apportion representatives according to the states' populations; the only compromise was that no state would receive less than one representative.
Really though, appealing the logic used 250 years ago is not very convincing. We have different concerns today than we did in in the 18th century. We are not trying to convince a ragtag group of states to form a union, the union has formed and is unlikely to disintegrate. Today we have a problem of bad representation in Congress, and it has been getting worse and worse with each passing year. It is not just about state borders, it is also a problem of how districts are drawn within states, and a proportional system would address that as well (why should we ever talk about gerrymandering? it is an artificial problem that can easily be solved). Year after year a majority of Americans have watched as people the party they voted against somehow took power, kept power, and received just enough power to prevent widely supported initiatives from going anywhere. The trend has been getting worse and worse as Republicans from sparsely populated states have become more and more aggressive at pressing their structural advantage. That needs to be addressed before people start questioning the value of democracy itself.
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This would violate one of the central promises of the union which was that the large populous areas would not be able to dictate to the smaller regions and would instead be forced to compromise with them. We seem poised to start expanding the union again in the coming decades. Imagine how much more difficult it would be to get smaller Mexican states or central American countries to agree to join the union if they believed they would have no say in running their local after doing so.
I understand where you are coming from as the US is so homogenous now thanks to 250 years of interstate population movement that the delineations seem arbitrary and unfair, but they were very distinct separate regions once upon a time and looking forward the regions we hope to bring into our union are more different than the average American than similar so these same protections will be critical to the effort.
That is the unconvincing argument for the (extremely) undemocratic Senate. The House is supposed to reflect the will of the people which is why we apportion representatives according to the states' populations; the only compromise was that no state would receive less than one representative.
Really though, appealing the logic used 250 years ago is not very convincing. We have different concerns today than we did in in the 18th century. We are not trying to convince a ragtag group of states to form a union, the union has formed and is unlikely to disintegrate. Today we have a problem of bad representation in Congress, and it has been getting worse and worse with each passing year. It is not just about state borders, it is also a problem of how districts are drawn within states, and a proportional system would address that as well (why should we ever talk about gerrymandering? it is an artificial problem that can easily be solved). Year after year a majority of Americans have watched as people the party they voted against somehow took power, kept power, and received just enough power to prevent widely supported initiatives from going anywhere. The trend has been getting worse and worse as Republicans from sparsely populated states have become more and more aggressive at pressing their structural advantage. That needs to be addressed before people start questioning the value of democracy itself.