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Hippie artifact of the day

The Weight

"The Weight" from Music from Big Pink by The Band, 1968.

Genuine Hippie Sez:

original intent

The people who wrote the United States Constitution made Congressional districts so small that you'd certainly know by local reputation, and not unlikely know personally, the person you sent to Washington to represent you.

The compromise agreed to in the Constitution was 30,000 per district. (George Washington wanted 10,000.) People, that is. And only adult males with property could actually vote. So maybe a couple of thousand voters per Congresscritter. (Spitballin' here.)

The House of Representatives was about small numbers of people electing a local to go to Washington to protect and/or promote their interests.

That changed with the Apportioment Act of 1911, made permanent by the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, which capped the number of Representatives at 435. Since then Congressional districts have swelled to more like half a million people. (Weren't those acts unconstitutional?)

That's different. Now there are so many voters per district that getting elected is not about having the trust and respect of your neighbors, or even the ability to be pursuasive among small groups, but about having rich people's money and/or a political machine behind you.

The kind of democracy those guys in wigs set up is not the kind of democracy we have. Not sure what to do about it, but just felt compelled to point it out because I suspect too few people know this.