People Without a Voice Are Not Represented

[Keith Broaders]

In a direct democracy every adult has the opportunity to participate in the making of legislative decisions.  In the United States in 2010 there were 235 million Americans that were eligible to vote, but only the 100 Senators and the 435 Representatives in Congress  have the  power to vote on important issues.

In other words, only 1 person out of approximately every 50,000  eligible voters actually gets to directly participate in the legislative process. In a representative democracy, like the one created by the Constitution, all of the eligible voters are able to choose who will make the political decisions in their behalf. When the number of representatives is few, the many become subjects to a ruling class.

If all of the adult population were able to participate in deciding which proposed bills became law, Congress would consist of 235 million members. The founding fathers knew that vesting all of the political power in the hands of all of the people would lead to a tyranny of the majority.

They decided that every state should have at least one representative in Congress and that no district would exceed 30,000 inhabitants.

This ratio would necessitate that the number of representatives in Congress would increase every ten years when the census showed an increase in a states population.  This procedure would guarantee that all states would be equally represented in Congress.

When, in 1929, the 435 Congressional Representatives decided that they wanted all of the legislative power by freezing the membership in the house to just 435. According to the Constitution we should have over 10,000 equally apportioned Congressional Districts. This act didn't limit the size of the districts, but it did limited the number of Congressional Representatives. Currently the number of representatives in frozen at 435, but there is no ceiling of the number of people living in Congressional Districts.

The Apportionment Act of 1929 was simply a power grab by Congress to disenfranchise the people and turn Congress from our servants into our masters.

[Keith Broaders]

In a direct democracy the ratio of representatives to the people being represented is 1 to 1. In the United States there is no ratio as the number of representatives is fixed, but the maximum number of constituents in a district is infinite. 

By limiting the number of representatives is limited but the size of the districts are unlimited you have a recipe of tyranny.