"Forgive my impassioned OP, but I have very strong views on government. — Noah Te Stroete
State governments are redundant and only serve to further divide the nation.
I don't understand your animus toward the states. Most countries subdivide themselves into provinces, states, counties, or some such. There are benefits: One big one is that states and federal government have separate, delegated and reserved, powers.
In a varied population, states can carry out collective government closer to the wishes of a smaller number of people than can occur on the national level. 5 million Wisconsinites vs. 300 million Americans. A number of states, across the northern part, are populated by people who ore or less LIKE the state, and invest the state as a vehicle of the collective will. The state is the means by which they achieve better education, health, and general well-being than other states do.
The states across the south have disliked the state from the get-go. They didn't like other states, and they didn't trust their own state. Breaking things down further, they didn't trust their county governments or city governments either. They saw the state as interference in their private prerogatives to do whatever the hell they wanted to do. As a consequence of this attitude, their stats on health, education, and generally well-being suck.
The states are free to experiment. Nebraska has a single legislative house (unicameral). Some state constitutions are better guarantees of individual liberties than the national constitution. States can legislate as they see fit on matters where they have precedence over the federal government. Voting laws vary. Minneapolis recently began ranked voting (first choice, second choice...)
NO system of government is perfect. Ours is improvable, but it isn't a total disaster, either. — Noah Te Stroete
NO system of government is perfect. Ours is improvable, but it isn't a total disaster, either. — "Bitter
Do you know what gerrymandering is and who’s the best at it? Republicans. — Noah Te Stroete
This goes way back to the 1870s when right wing judges declared corporations as having the rights of persons, — Noah Te Stroete
In any case, what’s gerrymandering have to do with republicans and the near impossibility of their changing the senate structure? — Reshuffle
Yes. I do. What about it? Unless it’s based on racial or equal protection (5a/14a) type issues, partisan gerrymandering is a mundane political issue condoned by the constitution; congress can use its elections clause if they don’t like its results. — Reshuffle
e whole point is that the senate is unrepresentative, and fails even by those standards. — StreetlightX
Are we playing let's ignore history because we don't like the current party in power? — Marchesk
History of oppression is what favors the Republicans. — Noah Te Stroete
Its representative of state governments, which is its purpose — Marchesk
Lol, you think the job of a representative democracy is to represent governments. — StreetlightX
I’m talking about the CURRENT Republican Party. They have benefited greatly from oppressive policies, whether current or from the history of right wing judges. — Noah Te Stroete
Are you talking about in theory? — Marchesk
Control of the Senate will swing back to the Democratic party in time. — Marchesk
Saying that 'well it's representative because it represents the states' is just tautological bullshit that justifies nothing. — StreetlightX
You do realize the States have to ratify the Constitutional amendment to abolish the Senate, assuming a majority of senators from either party would ratify that, removing their political influence. — Marchesk
It was originally intended to protect small states from the dominance of the big ones. — frank
That was the purported argument. The reality is that it protected slave plantation owners from the more populated cities of the North. — Noah Te Stroete
That was the purported argument. The reality is that it protected slave plantation owners from the more populated cities of the North. — Noah Te Stroete
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