It’s why the House of Representatives is stuck at 435 members. According to the constitution, & the point of the census, US House seats are supposed to be apportioned to a proportional ratio to the electorate but the PAA29 put a cap on the US House. Check out @uncapthehouse.bsky.social 1/9
There are many misguided arguments as to why PAA29 is “good” but there is no good reason why to limit representative democracy except to limit it. People need representatives and a government they can touch, representatives and government should serve people not the party or industry. 2/9
Representation does not need streamlined since it’s only streamlined for authoritarian reasons. Any argument about how too many representatives creates too much bureaucracy or too many districts on top of each other misses the entire point. 3/9
A representative democracy of the people should do just that! REPRESENT OUR PEOPLE! If people aren’t agreeing then that’s for the voters to decide not the bureaucrats we elected. Also let’s not forget to mention the racist, sexist, and xenophobic reasons these arguments stemmed from! 4/ 9
The people making these arguments are white men upset they loosing their right to oppress and control others. The reason we only have a handful of non white cis males in our congress is because those groups have been systematically excluded from our congressional delegation through the PAA29 5/9
That’s not to say that white cis people wouldn’t still get elected but repealing PAA29 would greatly increase the opportunity for non white cis communities to be represented. It would allow debates to be a debate instead of theatre to stall and keep stalling until it’s all destroyed. 6/9
We are in this mess because people are afraid to let go of power to transform society into something better for all people and it’s kinda despairing. I’m genuinely sad that I may not live to witness true democracy but we also should not give up and let these corrupted people win. 7/9
The progressive democratic movement is up against ancient systems of oppression that have gained control over the centuries. These systems think democracy and liberation is something they believe they can crush if they just keep trying. They have been waging war against us since the beginning. 8/9
It’s time to catch up and mount our defenses. That means electing people and not a party. That means dismantling their grip on our institutions. That means building sustainable infrastructure to resist from. 9/9
Appreciate the explanation!
Of course! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! I know it was a bit long-winded but it’s a very complex topic that must be evaluated within its context.
The electoral college also needs to go. When the founding fathers (old, mostly racist, white men) limited direct democracy there were reasons. But now, a mostly literate, much more diverse population that is no longer agricultural must be recognized and a safe system devised.
I agree but the EC is only a bruise showing the internal bleeding. The EC argument misses the bigger picture- so long as we are misrepresented by Congress, every single other system of governance will misrepresent us. We need to attack the root of the problem, not react to only part of the problem.