America Needs An Update: US Territories, Expanding the Electoral College/House of Representatives, and Other Changes We Need
Our country has a long history of changing our Government, from Amendments to the Constitution, to the additions of new states to the Union. Its been decades since we’ve seen a major change like a major Constitutional Amendment, but its clear that America Needs An Update.

Everyone, including me, loves to praise the Founding Fathers for their brilliance in setting up our Government. However, it was impossible for them to see the technological and societal advancements we have made in the past couple hundred years. Luckily, they included a process by which we can make changes to the Constitution. Today, I am going to propose a few changes which I believe are sorely needed. It is a mix of topics, but all of which would require some sort of Amendment in order to achieve.
US Territories

I’ve wanted to write about this for awhile, but an NBC News report is what finally spurned me into actually getting it done. The story denotes a Purdue University (in Indiana) student being denied over-the-counter medicine and harassed by a CVS worker who seemingly did not know that his Puerto Rico ID was valid, or the fact that Puerto Rico is 100% part of the United States. It isn’t just the CVS worker though, survey after survey consistently show that around HALF of Americans don’t know Puerto Rico is part of the US. (Let alone the other US Territories) Let me say this, not as a political slogan, but as a fact: Puerto Ricans are Americans. The same goes for the AMERICANS who are born and live in Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. Each of these US Territories have citizens who have served in our Military, live in our country, and deserve to have VOTING representation in Congress.
Currently, along with the federal district of Washington DC, these territories send Representatives to Congress, but they cannot vote on the floor of the House. I’ll expand on how to get this done later, but it is a travesty to me that Americans, living in the US, do not have voting representation in Congress.
Noticed I left a territory out? American Samoa. American Samoa is classified differently then those other territories. American Somoans are considered US Nationals, under the protection of the US, but not citizens. It is a whole other legal-laden conversation, but I would be doing a disservice if I did not include them and highlight their challenges as part of the US as well. I’m not supposing to speak for American Somoans, but I believe they deserve the opportunity to clear up the in-limbo type status they currently have as US Nationals.
To be clear, I am not advocating for Statehood for all of these Territories, currently just Voting Representation. DC and Puerto Rico have had statehood movements in recent years. I would not support DC’s statehood movement, due to my belief in the idea that the seat of government should not belong to a single state, which some Founders cited in it’s creation. I would support Puerto Rico statehood, should the citizens of Puerto Rico choose it. Puerto Rico is larger than 20 states in terms of population, and statehood would go a long ways to solving many problems they now face.
Electoral College/House Of Representatives
I’ll be straightforward on this one, Expand the Electoral College/House of Representatives by 100. That would put the Electoral College at 635, and the House at 535, each with a little different reasoning. (I know the Electoral College is now 538, and +100 would not equal 635. Will get to that later in the piece on how I get to 635 rather than 638)

Expansion of the House of Representatives
The timing has never been more perfect to Expand the House of Representatives. The decennial Census will occur in 2020, with the first elections impacted in 2022. By giving the current US Territories voting representation, we could simply include them in the next reapportionment without disrupting the current structure. Due to the coinciding expansion of the House, the states on the margin for having or gaining a Representative won’t have to worry about a territory taking that coveted final reapportionment spot.

Another good reason for this proposal is the fact that each district has become too large to adequately represent as intended. When Congress first created the system, they envisioned each member represent between 30,000 to 40,000 people. Right now, each Representative has over 730,000 people in their district, more than the entire population of a couple states. This proposal would bring that down closer to 615,000 people per Congressional District. Smaller Districts, Better Representation, and Providing Voting Representation to ALL Americans, that is a No-Brainer to me.
Electoral College Expansion

For quite awhile, and especially since the 2000 and 2016 elections, there have been calls to abolish the Electoral College and go with a National Popular Vote. I don’t think that will ever happen in my lifetime, but I do think that I have a compromise that could work for people on each side.
As I mentioned above with the Expansion of the House of Representatives by 100, this would impact the Electoral College as well. First, and perhaps the most common sense result, is no more potential Electoral College ties! You can’t divide 635 by 2 and come up with a whole number, that is math. That is the easy part, now comes the hard stuff.

First, DC would have to trade Voting Representation for their guaranteed 3 electoral votes. That would require repealing the 23rd Amendment. While not ideal for DC, the prospect of having a voting representative, & still holding at least 1 electoral vote could be a compromise that might work for those involved.
Next, the REALLY hard part. Giving each state (via the Senate) only one guaranteed electoral vote, and allocating 50 electoral votes to the National Popular Vote winner. This would require Repealing/Amending the 12th Amendment and the Wyoming Rule (Reapportionment Act of 1929). States would still have at least one more electoral vote (and a minimum of 2 total) than the Territories, but the smallest states would see their Electoral College clout diluted. However, this would solve the issue of Electoral College ties and the crazy system for resolving ties in the House and Senate.

This proposal might be weird in that it might not necessarily break down among partisan lines. Likely, small states like Wyoming and Vermont would oppose, while medium and large states like Texas and Minnesota would be in favor. It would eliminate some of the bugs in our current system, while also providing some level of compromise for those who think the whole electoral system deserves to be blown up. Even if you live in a deep red or blue state, you would have an opportunity to influence the National Popular Vote. So that Republican in California, or that Democrat in Idaho would still have a chance to have a real impact on the Presidential election.
While it wouldn’t necessarily guarantee the National Popular Vote winner ends up winning it all, it would provide enough reward that anyone who won without it would have a mandate from many more states.

Other Changes We Need
I’m not going to go into a whole lot of detail on some of these other ideas, but they are legitimate nonetheless. Improved Civics/History Education: It is obvious that our current amount is inadequate, as evidenced by 50% of the country not knowing Puerto Rico is part of the US. I’m sure much more couldn’t even named the committee responsible for tax policy in Congress. Any way you slice it, everyone is impacted by voting and elections, it is time we gave it the attention it deserves.

Revised Rules For Considering Judicial Appointments: The fact that Merrick Garland was nominated and never even considered is an affront to the Constitution of the US, and all of America. Even if you dislike Garland, and didn’t want him confirmed, the fact that he didn’t get hearings and an up/down vote is ridiculous. Additionally, the number of unqualified judges sitting on the bench is astounding. When I learned other states ELECTED justices, I was baffled. The Missouri Plan is one of the things that we do right.
These are just a few of the things that I’d like to see implemented. I tried to keep this as non-partisan as possible. Let me know what you think of these proposals, and any topics you’d like me to cover in the future.
