With the 23rd census date behind us, it is time to reflect on the greatest US electoral injustice outside the District (No Taxation Without Representation!). I am of course speaking of the "Great" Compromise of the Philadelphia Convention.
GROSS SIMPLIFICATION WARNING!!! \/
The biggest non-slavery problem facing the Constitutional Convention was legislative representation of states. Large states wanted representation in proportion to their population, whereas small states wanted all states to have equal representation.
The compromise-->a proportional House and a fixed two-seat Senate.
Delaware loved the deal and rushed to statehood with a unanimous vote. The big states (and the US curmudgeon, Rhode Island), took longer. Some came close to rejecting the new nation.
END GROSS SIMPLIFICATION ^
In the end, it wasn't so bad for the most populous state, Virginia. They could overpower Delaware in the House, and they still had 1/13th of the Senate. Sure, it was unsettling that Virginia had 11 times the population of Delaware and just two Senators, but no state would ever have more than...20ish times the population of another?
ENTER NUMERICAL TIME MACHINE
* 1790 Virginia had 11 times the population of Delaware
* 2000 California had 69 times the population of Wyoming
* If California were broken into states with the population of Wyoming, the Senate would have 236 members, 138 of which would be from California.
Would the founders have thought our Senate an appropriate institution for the republic? I doubt it. The histogram below shows the state population proportions as viewed by the founders inline with the modern situation.
Absurd Proposition?
California should form a new governmental body, called the California Region. Sacramento could administer the region, with state governments pushed down to appropriate counties.
* Note: The apportioned population respects the 3/5 compromise. I do not...except if it contributed to the end of slavery.
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Edit Note: Recalculated number of potential Senators
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