Congressional Reform Part 1 - The Senate
My plans to reform the structure of Congress are too big to fit in one post so they are getting divided into two posts. Part one is today while part two will be out next week.
Congressional Reform Part 1 - The Senate
The senate is a relic from a time before their was a national unity and a national identity. It was created to give state legislatures representatives in the federal government and to give the smaller states a say. Today, we define ourselves as a country not the state nationalism people defined themselves as until the civil war. Plus, with the passage of the seventeenth amendment in 1913 senators were directly elected by citizens, not appointed by the state legislature. Therefore, the current senate does not serve a purpose anymore, it just lets smaller states have more of a say in the government. It is undemocratic to let this system continue. California with a population of 39 million is represented by the same amount of people as Wyoming, population 600 thousand. With more and more people moving out of rural areas into urban areas this population disparity will only get worse. Just like the current electoral college, the senate gives the rural population an unfair advantage. However, just like the electoral college the rural minority still needs to be represented in our government so here's my plan:
Step 1: Abolish the system of how the senate is elected.
If we give states different amounts of senators based on their population, the senate essentially becomes a smaller version of the house. To keep both chambers different the senate will be elected on:
Step 2: The senate will be elected in a national, party percentage system. This is done by each voter choosing a party when they vote, and the party wins an amount of seats equal to the percentage of the national vote they receive. (Ex. If the democratic party receives 51% of the vote they get 51 seats).
This lets rural voters still be able to have representatives in the senate but keeps the senate democratic. It also enables third parties to be represented in government and bipartisanship. As getting a majority is difficult so parties will have to work with each other to solve problems.
Step 3: A national open primary will be held on the first Tuesday in June and voters get to choose 5 candidates of only one party on the ballot. The candidate with the most votes will be ranked #1 on the party list for the general election and second place will be #2, etc.
To have the senate elected in a party percentage system, a national primary must be held. Having states hold primaries on different days would make states with later dates primaries be worth nothing. The first Tuesday in June was chosen for the date of the primaries to let the candidates have enough to prepare for the general election.
Step 4: All powers of the senate and current laws of the senate will stay the same.
This section of my plan is just intended to reststate that the actual powers of the senate are not changing just how it is elected. My plan would actually be beneficial to the senate since the senate primarily deals with national issues and in my plan candidates represent the nation not a state.
To summarize, my plan abolsihes the current way the senate is elected but keeps the powers of the senate the same. The senate would now be elected in a party percentage system enabling compromise in the senate, giving third parties representation, and equalling representation of urban and rural voters. For this to work a national primary would be created to give no state and advantage over one another.
To see how my plan would change the composition of the current senate or if you need a visual on how my plan changes the electoral college click here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZA4CpwiGKhvqqyAj6jM-VYct2iQYsk4uoLlMRD8eUzc/edit?usp=sharing
Congressional Reform Part 1 - The Senate
The senate is a relic from a time before their was a national unity and a national identity. It was created to give state legislatures representatives in the federal government and to give the smaller states a say. Today, we define ourselves as a country not the state nationalism people defined themselves as until the civil war. Plus, with the passage of the seventeenth amendment in 1913 senators were directly elected by citizens, not appointed by the state legislature. Therefore, the current senate does not serve a purpose anymore, it just lets smaller states have more of a say in the government. It is undemocratic to let this system continue. California with a population of 39 million is represented by the same amount of people as Wyoming, population 600 thousand. With more and more people moving out of rural areas into urban areas this population disparity will only get worse. Just like the current electoral college, the senate gives the rural population an unfair advantage. However, just like the electoral college the rural minority still needs to be represented in our government so here's my plan:
Step 1: Abolish the system of how the senate is elected.
If we give states different amounts of senators based on their population, the senate essentially becomes a smaller version of the house. To keep both chambers different the senate will be elected on:
Step 2: The senate will be elected in a national, party percentage system. This is done by each voter choosing a party when they vote, and the party wins an amount of seats equal to the percentage of the national vote they receive. (Ex. If the democratic party receives 51% of the vote they get 51 seats).
This lets rural voters still be able to have representatives in the senate but keeps the senate democratic. It also enables third parties to be represented in government and bipartisanship. As getting a majority is difficult so parties will have to work with each other to solve problems.
Step 3: A national open primary will be held on the first Tuesday in June and voters get to choose 5 candidates of only one party on the ballot. The candidate with the most votes will be ranked #1 on the party list for the general election and second place will be #2, etc.
To have the senate elected in a party percentage system, a national primary must be held. Having states hold primaries on different days would make states with later dates primaries be worth nothing. The first Tuesday in June was chosen for the date of the primaries to let the candidates have enough to prepare for the general election.
Step 4: All powers of the senate and current laws of the senate will stay the same.
This section of my plan is just intended to reststate that the actual powers of the senate are not changing just how it is elected. My plan would actually be beneficial to the senate since the senate primarily deals with national issues and in my plan candidates represent the nation not a state.
To summarize, my plan abolsihes the current way the senate is elected but keeps the powers of the senate the same. The senate would now be elected in a party percentage system enabling compromise in the senate, giving third parties representation, and equalling representation of urban and rural voters. For this to work a national primary would be created to give no state and advantage over one another.
To see how my plan would change the composition of the current senate or if you need a visual on how my plan changes the electoral college click here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZA4CpwiGKhvqqyAj6jM-VYct2iQYsk4uoLlMRD8eUzc/edit?usp=sharing
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