Quote:
Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski
you're saying have a second house, just with bigger districts? they why have two houses? aren't they supposed to be different in make up?
And that wouldn't result in more dem senators, unless the dems gerrymander.
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Six year terms versus two year terms is also a very significant difference.
The Senate was designed to solve a problem, which was states viewing themselves as retaining significant sovereignty and a need to get the different states to unify. In Lebanon, the longest lived (and perhaps soon the only) democracy in the Middle East, they have had to address a different issue than our regionalism or state's rights, which is sectarianism. So they've had representation divided among religious groups, with a pre-defined balance of power (it did take a war to deal with some demographic shifts). In Europe, senior houses often have been used to give fading aristocracies their last breath of representation, and have had to change as power structures change. Maybe the Senate today could be redesigned to solve different problems and be more representative, much as the House of Lords today looks kind of different than the late 18th century House of Lords.
But, regardless, Puerto Rico for the 51st State!
