Do you still like the Senate?

So something came to me while reading David Swanson's excellent new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union: a lot of people complain that we must have a Senate in order to avoid really populous states from pushing smaller states out of debates. Do our intuitions hold, though, when we consider a point brought up by Swanson--that representatives of around 11.25% of the country's population (DC and territories not included) have the numbers to filibuster any bill? If we're talking equal representation, why shouldn't we give all 524 counties in the country 1 vote instead of giving each state 2 votes? Isn't that the logical conclusion? Under such a scheme, though, residents of Ontario County, NY would have 95x the voting power as the 9.5 million living in LA County, CA. Absurd, right? Well why should Wyomingites have 70x the voting power as those living in CA!?

Here's an idea: get rid of the Senate! In guarding against the mobocracy of the populous states, it has paradoxically become a tool for mobocracy of the few. Why should 11.25% of the population be able to derail the agenda of the rest of the 88.75% of the country?

Privacy through forgetfulness

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114276194&ft=1&f=1001

The Worst That Could Happen

The Worst That Could Happen: "Greg Craven - Dec. 13 (Opinion) - Science teacher Greg Craven makes a powerful case for taking immediate action to ameliorate the effects of global warming, with a simple logical exercise that demonstrates the consequences of failing to do so in a very graphic way.

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More clear thinking on legislative gridlock

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/dec/13/america-broken-political-system-obama

"in a 100-seat body, getting 51 votes is hard but not impossible. But getting those 57th, 58th, 59th and 60th votes to end debate … Well, the situation gives those senators incredible bargaining power. They can basically dictate terms in exchange for their votes."

Obama Plan Could Limit Records Hidden from Public

Obama Plan Could Limit Records Hidden from Public: "Associated Press - By Manuel Balce Ceneta - Dec. 23 (News Report) - President Barack Obama plans to deal with a Dec. 31 deadline that automatically would declassify secrets in more than 400 million pages of Cold War-era documents by ordering government-wide changes that could sharply curb the number of new and old government records hidden from the public.

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GOP Argues Insurance Mandate Violates Constitution

GOP Argues Insurance Mandate Violates Constitution: "

Republicans claim a health overhaul requirement that everyone in the country have health insurance should be found unconstitutional. They argue the mandate violates Fifth Amendment protections against the government taking private property without just compensation.

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After health-care reform, Senate reform

After health-care reform, Senate reform: "Washington Post - By Ezra Klein - Dec. 27 (Opinion) - To understand why the modern legislative process is so bad, why every Senator seems able to demand a king's ransom in return for his or her vote and no bill ever seems to be truly bipartisan, you need to understand one basic fact: The government can function if the minority party has either the incentive to make the majority fail or the power to make the majority fail. It cannot function if it has both.

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