Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Our broken government

While watching the Senate primary results roll in from Delaware, I couldn't help but wonder how broken is our government? The fact that Christine O'Donnell could win the Republic nomination with just 30,000 votes -- less than the number of people at PNC Park for a SkyBlast -- and could eventually decide such a powerful position is astounding to me. Sure, she still must win in the general election, but how could someone with such poor qualifications get the nod for such an important position?

It makes me wonder why we still allow a bicameral federal legislative body. Why should we give 30,000 people -- just 3 percent of the entire population of Delaware and a micro-fraction of the American population -- an opportunity to be 1/100 votes in the U.S. Senate? That means people in smaller states have much more voting power than people living in larger states such as Pennsylvania.

The founders decided on the bicameral government to give both small and big states equal representation. But it's becoming increasingly clear that the minority in dime-size states has an overwhelming voice in our government.

2 comments:

  1. FiveThirtyEight has some great stats on the DE race. Had Castle won, he'd have had an 85% chance of winning in Novemeber. O'Donnel now has a 16% chance of winning. Thank you, tea party... seriously, thank you.

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  2. They are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. One Republican commentator actually said he was glad Castle lost, even thought it meant losing the Delaware seat to Democrats.

    I really don't think any of it matters, though. The Democrats will be impotent if their have 55 seats or 51 seats or 49 seats.

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