In this case, the president also goes down in the proposed system (about 41 to 38) even though he actual gets a slightly higher portion of the electorate- the perils of being a regional president. Now to address your objection: pretend said president is worshipped in C (80% approval) and reviled by all the other states (20% approval) Proposed System: the president goes down in flames (59 to 22) 37 EVs)Ĭonsider a president that is highly unpopular in M, G, N and H (90% against), and only somewhat popular in C and D (45% against)Ĭurrent system: the president gets re-elected (42 to 39) in this sample of the country, despite losing the popular in historic fashion. The smaller states currently have a lower combined population but have significantly higher influence if taken as a whole (44 vs. Presently, number of Electoral Votes (EV) = #congressmen + #senators per state, or #congressmen + 2. Please indulge my preference to use very simplified math. Find another way to stike that mathematical ballance, and I will listen.ĭoctor Brin's proposal of proportional representation does exactly that, without the possibility of having regional interests completely trump national interests. It means that the successful presidential candidate has to appleal to the majority of the states as much as to the majority of the people. After all, it would be much more difficult to effectively gerrymander if a state suddenly has another five or so House Seats to fill, and any attempts to do so would become quite visible. These "Home Reps" would also be better situated to understand what their state situation is at. The benefits is that you now have an expanded Representative base, allowing for more accurate depiction of voter and party interests. (In fact, the 100 Virtual Seats could be rotating among the elected Reps, so that each year a different Rep is allowed to work from home.) If the Remote Access Representatives work effectively, it could either be expanded upon, or more traditional Reps could be allowed to start working from their home state as well. All House documents could be sent to a regular computer owned by the Rep or sent via Postal mail for hard copies. They would not have any web surfing capabilities, no USB or other features, and basically be built so that all they do is register the vote of the Rep. These machines would ONLY be for telecommuting and registering votes. These 100 Reps would be better situated to follow the dictates of their state because they're not stuck in Washington for much of the year. You set up high-quality webcams for the 100 Virtual Representatives and allow these Reps to work from their home state using computer workstations. There is a viable alternative and one that technology would easily allow: Virtual Representatives. The problem is that this would reduce the power of small states - I'd suggest that the first 50 seats should be split evenly among the 50 current states and the rest according to population.Īctually, the real problem is that the House doesn't want to spend the money to expand on the House. I've mentioned in the past we should add another 100 seats into the House of Representatives.
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