So how many legislators?

My last post discussed the advantages of increasing the number of legislators serving in the US House of Representatives.

This leads to the question of how many legislators should there be? The more legislators there are, the less political power that is wielded by each single legislator.

If we set the ratio of voters/representative to be equal to what it was originally (30,000/1) there would be over 10,600 representatives. Obviously, with that many congressmen there would have to be a radical reorganization.

Such a large body would need a correspondingly large arena to assemble. The current House chamber would be completely inadequate. But who says they have to physically assemble anyway? Advancements in technology can facilitate a virtual assembly and with less expense than the current physical assembly of 435 members. Once the infrastructure is in place the only cost would be for the legislator to 'login'. The time and cost savings by eliminating the private flights to DC, at the expense of taxpayers, would more than offset the cost of the electronic infrastructure. The additional benefit of keeping representatives closer to their respective constituencies probably cannot be overstated.

The current House chamber can be re-purposed or converted to a museum.

Cheers,

Further Reading

Enlarging the House of Representatives

Wyoming Rule

Increase the Size of the House