The shocking stat that shows why our democracy isn’t so democratic!
This book, One Nation After Trump, written by E.J. Dionne, Norman Ornstein, and Thomas Mann is definitely going on my wishlist. It looks like it tackles how we should deal with the way that Trump has been playing around with our political norms and institutions.
BUT, with that said, this is the stat that they shared that gave me alarm:
By 2050, 70% of our population will live in 30% of the states.
What does this mean? It means that 30 of our 100 Senators will represent 70% of the country and conversely that 70 of our Senators will represent 30% of our country.
Initially when I heard this, I thought that impending demographic changes, with more and more urbanization, was GOING to create a completely unfair system. But the crazy thing is: it’s already this unfair.
According to the 2013 census, 70% of our population lives in 34% of the states.
Originally, when I wanted to write this piece, I was thinking, “We’re going to have to upend our Constitution, but we have 30 years to try and fix this problem.”
BUT, one more twist: I checked the 1792 elections.
Back in 1792, ~70% of our population lived in about 42% of the states.
What is true, though, is that this problem has been and is slowly getting worse and worse. Especially with the filibuster in our Senate, this trend will continue to make it harder and harder for the majority to have a say in how our laws are passed.
It’d be interesting if, as a country, we decided to reform our democracy dramatically, to better represent the voice of the people. It’s unlikely right now because of how much our governance looks more like an oligarchy than even a pure democracy, so it’ll be difficult to convince vested interests to change the system that currently benefits them so much.
I think that the only way that we can get to a place where we, as a country, are willing to reform our democracy, is if we can create a society that actually has informed civic engagement. Why?
Because without concerted political engagement, politics devolves into who has the best marketing machine & who can best (pretend to) meet people’s most instinctive needs (which includes things like addressing unrealistic fears, like terrorism).
