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March 12, 2003
Abolish Filibuster/Abolish Senate
The GOP is railing against the "undemocratic" use of filibusters by Senate Democrats to block Estrada's nomination.
And they're right. The filibuster is undemocratic.
But then so is the Senate, since it does not reflect actual voters but states, where Senators from tiny places like Wyoming have as many votes as Senators from California.
In fact, if Senators had voting power proportionate to their state's populations, Democrats would have a significant majority in the Senate. Assuming that each Senator got one vote for every person in their state (as of 2000), the totals would be as follows (remembering each state has two Senators):
Democratic Votes: 301.5 million
Republican Votes: 246.8 million
Even if you moved the Democrats who have joined the GOP against the filibuster into the GOP column, those opposing Estrada have a majority of the votes when reflecting the country's population.
So yes, the filibuster is archaic, but then so is the Senate. And so is the electoral college that put George Bush into office despite getting fewer votes than Al Gore. It's strange that when Bush was becoming President, the GOP didn't go on about majority rule so much, but now that it's their ox getting Gored, they have become born-again small d democrats.
Well, here's the deal-- they get Estrada, we get the abolishing of the Senate itself. That way we uphold majority vote for real.
* Here is the table which generates these results:
|
State |
Population |
GOP |
Dem |
GOP Pop Represented |
Dem Pop Represented |
|
Alabama |
4,451 |
2 |
|
8902 |
0 |
|
Alaska |
653 |
2 |
|
1306 |
0 |
|
Arizona |
4,798 |
2 |
|
9596 |
0 |
|
Arkansas |
2,631 |
|
2 |
0 |
5262 |
|
California |
32,521 |
|
2 |
0 |
65042 |
|
Colorado |
4,168 |
2 |
|
8336 |
0 |
|
Connecticut |
3,284 |
|
2 |
0 |
6568 |
|
Delaware |
768 |
|
2 |
0 |
1536 |
|
Florida |
15,233 |
|
2 |
0 |
30466 |
|
Georgia |
7,875 |
1 |
1 |
7875 |
7875 |
|
Hawaii |
1,257 |
|
2 |
0 |
2514 |
|
Idaho |
1,347 |
2 |
|
2694 |
0 |
|
Illinois |
12,051 |
1 |
1 |
12051 |
12051 |
|
Indiana |
6,045 |
1 |
1 |
6045 |
6045 |
|
Iowa |
2,900 |
1 |
1 |
2900 |
2900 |
|
Kansas |
2,668 |
2 |
|
5336 |
0 |
|
Kentucky |
3,995 |
2 |
|
7990 |
0 |
|
Louisiana |
4,425 |
|
2 |
0 |
8850 |
|
Maine |
1,259 |
2 |
|
2518 |
0 |
|
Maryland |
5,275 |
|
2 |
0 |
10550 |
|
Massachusetts |
6,199 |
|
2 |
0 |
12398 |
|
Michigan |
9,679 |
|
2 |
0 |
19358 |
|
Minnesota |
4,830 |
1 |
1 |
4830 |
4830 |
|
Mississippi |
2,816 |
2 |
|
5632 |
0 |
|
Missouri |
5,540 |
2 |
|
11080 |
0 |
|
Montana |
950 |
1 |
1 |
950 |
950 |
|
Nebraska |
1,705 |
1 |
1 |
1705 |
1705 |
|
Nevada |
1,871 |
1 |
1 |
1871 |
1871 |
|
New Hampshire |
1,224 |
2 |
|
2448 |
0 |
|
New Jersey |
8,178 |
|
2 |
0 |
16356 |
|
New Mexico |
1,860 |
1 |
1 |
1860 |
1860 |
|
New York |
18,146 |
|
Posted by Nathan at March 12, 2003 07:59 AM
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