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

We Need More Legislators

Are legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives truly representative of the voters that put them in office? The motivation for the question is the fact that, on average, each congressional district has a 730,000+ population. In 1789 that number was roughly 30,000.

Is it time to increase the number of legislators in the House?

Cons:

• It would be more expensive to pay more congressmen and their facilities and staff.

(That's the only con I can think of at the moment.)

Pros:

• In context of the entire Federal budget the expense of operating the legislature is not significant.
• The more members of the legislature we have, the more difficult it is for PACs and other special interest groups to influence (buy) individual legislators.
• With smaller districts a campaign could be run for less expense which would enable more candidates.
• Smaller districts would align more readily with natural boundaries of real communities.
• Smaller districts would enhance the political power of more diverse communities.

There is much more to say on this. I'll be back.

Cheers,
Moby

The King Does Not Know

If I were king of the United States (Not president because I need absolute power) I would quickly set about dismantling entire sectors of our Federal government. The devil is in the details so lets not bother with all that now. The important point is my motivation.

You see, I do not know what is best for you or our 300+ million fellow citizens. Therefore my lack of knowledge must compel me to remove as many burdens or any other interferences brought on by the Federal government as possible.

I do not know what kind of car you need, what you should feed your kids, how much money you should make, what school you should attend, which doctor to visit, or any other major or minor aspect of your life. I don't even know your name. How can a decent, benevolent King with so little knowledge tolerate such an intrusion on his citizens?

Almost a year

It's been almost a year since my last post.

Guess I'm not really a blogger after all.

New Look on Blogger.com

I'm using one of the new templates on blogger. It's definitely an improvement.

I'm Obviously not a Blogger

I haven't posted anything in a while and the only reason I'm putting this post up is to have some semblance of a continuance here. Frankly I lost interest in blogging and beside, all I ever really did was provide links to other news with the occasional comment. Instapundit does a much better job of that sort of thing than I so why should I bother?

Born to (NOT) Drive

Bad drivers may in part have their genes to blame, suggests a new study by UC Irvine neuroscientists.

People with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it - and a follow-up test a few days later yielded similar results. About 30 percent of Americans have the variant.

Perhaps that gecko will want to get a DNA test before issuing a policy.

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The Roadrunner would be proud

What could be more fun than launching anvils?

Coins from a dead man's eyes

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

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High-speed Digital

If you have $200,000+ available then test out the new Weisscam HS-2.

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It does 4000fps at 720p and 2000fps at 1080p

The perfect computer memory

ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY, an organisation that carries out research for the US Department of Energy, have discovered materials that could have far reaching implications for the electronics industry.
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It's in the field of electro-magnetic memory where these materials may find a home in the coming years. Memory chips based on multiferroics could theoretically offer static memory that doesn't require constant refreshing, holds data over loss of power and is fast to both write and read... the holy grail of computer memory.

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Web surfing is good for the brain?

Adults with little Internet experience show changes in their brain activity after just one week online, a new study finds.

The results suggest Internet training can stimulate neural activation patterns and could potentially enhance brain function and cognition in older adults.

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The Funeral

My father no longer gasps and struggles. He departed this temporary home on September 29th and we laid his bones to rest on October 2nd.

The visitation and funeral provided me the opportunity to see friends from my old hometown that I had not seen in decades.

My brother in law is a former minister and did an excellent job presiding.

The former preachers wife from my hometown church sang beautifully. It was truly stunning.

A former co-worker of my father and several grandchildren offered some inspirational, personal memorials.

My thanks to everyone who was there to say goodbye to Daddy.

A Summary of Pop Culture

Border patrol cuts!

Even though the Border Patrol now reports that almost 1,300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border is not under effective control, and the Department of Justice says that vast stretches of the border are “easily breached,” and the Government Accountability Office has revealed that three persons “linked to terrorism” and 530 aliens from “special interest countries” were intercepted at Border Patrol checkpoints last year, the administration is nonetheless now planning to decrease the number of Border Patrol agents deployed on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Why don't we just open the border? Why continue pretending that anyone in authority is actually concerned about borders?

As sovereignty dissolves

From an Imprimis article by Jeremy Rabkin

Where does this trend away from the sovereignty of national constitutions lead? I do not think the danger is a world tyranny. I think that idea is fantastical. Rather what it will lead to, I think, is an undermining of the idea that national governments can protect people, with the result that people will start looking for defense elsewhere. We saw this in an extreme way in Iraq when it collapsed into chaos before the surge, and people looked for protection to various ethnic or sectarian militias. A similar phenomenon can be seen today in Europe with the formation of various separatist movements. We’re even hearing loud claims for Scottish independence.

I hope he's right about the 'world tyranny' thing.

South Carolina 16 - Ole Miss 10

Guess Ole Miss wasn't really a #4 team after all.

Dollars? For what? Wallpaper?

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed concern as early as March over the safety of his country's huge US bond holdings now worth more than 800 billion dollars, making it the largest creditor to the United States.

Then, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, who supervises more than two trillion dollars worth of dollar reserves, the world's largest, raised the stakes by calling for a new reserve currency in place of the dollar.

We can accuse the Chinese of doing a lot weird and senseless things but they ain't stupid. The US is on a debt path that absolutely can not be sustained and the Chinese know it. They believe the dollar is seriously in danger of becoming worthless and they could be right.

Follow the rules please

"Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow," Obama said.

Well who would of thought that Iran would break the rules?

Hmm, hmm, hmm

Lots of oil

The oil industry has been on a hot streak this year, thanks to a series of major discoveries that have rekindled a sense of excitement across the petroleum sector, despite falling prices and a tough economy.

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