The Political Castes of the American Republic (a student paper, c. 2500)

[expatriot]

the following is an excerpt from a high school senior's term paper in World History from 2500.

The American Republic had several castes, the members of which were allowed various levels of citizenship. First, the value of a citizen's vote depending on which 'state' that citizen lived. For example, in the United States Senate, the highest congress of the land, citizens of the Wyoming state enjoyed nearly 100 times the representative power as did citizens of the California state (Wyoming had a senator for every 200,000 citizens while California had one senator for every 18 million citizens). Furthermore, the city-state of 'Distric of Colombia,' even though they hosted the federal government and was peopled by 700,000 people, did not enjoy Senatorial representation.

This disparity continued into the Republic's presidential election system. The system known as the 'electoral college' gave preference to states like Wyoming, who were awarded one elector for every 130,000 citizens while California only had one elector for every 650,000 citizens.

Even in the most democratic of the houses of Congress, this discrimination continued. In the House of Representatives, Wyoming had a representative for 450,000 citizens while California only had one representative for 640,000 of its people."

[liberalmuse]

1. Wow!

Do you have a link?

[expatriot]

3. i just wrote it up right now... I have been thinking about it...

for awhile.

[expatriot]

2. This coudl be a serious problem in the century ahead... civil war?

Think about it... if the population disparity gets higher and higher, you could have movements in larger states calling for the forced "merger" of smaller, unpopulated states. I think the East Coast states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire), because of the influence of their high population neighbors, would agree to a federal 're-districting' program. Where as the Western and Plains states would resist tooth and claw. Texas would use that provision they were given when they joined the Union that gives them the power to break up into 6 smaller states, the boundaries of these states being decided by a conservative conspiracy, much to the chagrin and discontent of the East and West Coast.

Civil War, baby.

[mhr]

5. If BFEE Style Control Continues Much Longer, Revolution Is Inevitable

People will not put up with the

Hypocrisy,
Wealth Disparity,
Permanent Unemployment,
Crumbling Schools, and
Wealthy Only Healthcare Forever.

The dam will brake eventually and Republican heads will roll.

History demands no less.

Yet the corporations and Republicans seem to have never read history and are unwilling to share the wealth and power.

[expatriot]

4. I think at the time of the constitutional convention...

the population disparity between the largest state (VA) and the smallest state (RI?) was like 15, now it is like 80 between Wyoming and California.

[nemo137]

6. i think the problem is that we capped the number of reps.

instead of letting it grow with population. i think we should repeal that provison. granted, this would make it necessary to revamp some parliamentary procedures, but i think it would make things more equitable.