The U.S. Census and the Amazing Apportionment Machine

[why435org]

Does it really need to be this complicated? why435.org has the answer.

[Deisongp]

interesting..but, wouldnt it be better, and easier, elect the representatives by popular vote?

[rovscale]

@Deisongp it does. what the fuck are you talking about?

[dnissen2012]

If you look at an unmodified version of the formula, and rank solely on people per representative, California should get less, as well as Texas and New York. Montana, South Dakota, and Delaware should all get 2.

But nooooooooo...it has to be some complicated formula that has massive bias to larger states,

[socialisteducation]

Um. If we were actually following the Constitution, then the U.S. House should almost double in size. This would help make representatives more accountable to their people as well.

[dnissen2012]

@socialisteducation Look at Project 30,000. I don't have a website, but it is a project that limits the people per representative to 60,000.

[threepwoodish]

@mikelonia the size of 435 begins with the apportionment act of 1941, and the supreme court test of "one person one vote" has overruled any challenges to congressional size change since. i'm with you though, we should at least double if not triple the house size.. but it'll never happen until the House expands itself when the disparities become so great it can no longer be ignored. That's what we do in this country, ignore it until it becomes a huge problem.

[mikelonia]

Why the size of Congress changed for every census until 1910 where it has been frozen ever since at 435? At that time each representative represented an average of 210,000 citizens and in 2000 it was up to 650,000? No wonder Congress is so out of touch with what people want.

[MrWashingTea]

I don't suppose the Census Bureau would be interested in a video explaining how the census data can (and is) used to manipulate election results. No probably not. Wouldn't want our kids to thnk...

[xnothingbutthetruth]

@krevelify really? And how many people does each representative represent in other countries? Besides.. when we the people are handing out over 100k in salary a year.. would you prefer we had 1 representative for every 34,000?... that would mean what.. about 10,000 representatives - and we would pay them about a billion a year. - I think I prefer the way we chose... how about you?

[offamychain]

" ..... from Maryland to California ..... "

Huummm .... since Maryland is not the easternmost state, nor is California the westernmost, I guess that means those other 9 or 10 states are just SOOL.

Yup, I see now why the citizens have so little real say-so in what government actually does up there .... around 45 million or so people aren't even represented!! :) :)

[kakureru]

each and every one with at least one hand in a big corporation's pocket

[offamychain]

@kakureru  ..... No, there's 1 of them I think that doesn't cater to the corporations ....... I think. But he's over in Guam, or maybe it's Peurto Rico or something like that. And he is just an observer with no voting power. At least I've heard that somewhere ....... it seems ....... I think ....... not sure.

[alevihnc]

Too bad they forgot to give representation to the 599,657+ people of Washington DC who are without representation.

[jimbobago]

@alevihnc They hardly "forgot" Washington DC. Since it's not part of any state, it was designed to not qualify under many of the rules that apply to states. If any of them don't like it, the citizens of DC can always move.

[ehenningsen]

I am sure you are one of those people that nit pick everything as being some sort of conspiracy, JEQuidam. This is about as fair and balanced as you can get when dividing up 306,000,000 and still working with 50 geographical boundaries. Then again, there is nothing anybody can say that will ever be good enough for the people of anarchy.

[JEQuidam]

Regarding the violation of the constitutional principle of “one person one vote” due to unequally-sized congressional districts (see comment below), additional information is also provided by "Apportionment.us" as they have a lawsuit pending on this matter.

[JEQuidam]

The video closes with: “The apportionment process ensures equal representation for all, just like the founding fathers planned.” Though that is exactly what the Founders had planned, we are a long way from “equal representation for all”. In fact, the population sizes of congressional districts are egregiously unequal from state to state, thereby violating the constitutional principle of “one person one vote”. Read section 9 of “Taking Back Our Republic” (Thirty-Thousand . org).

[414834]

well done

[uscitizenpod]

Excellent video! I am posting this to uscitizenpod tomorrow. thanks for all your fine work.