Can proportional representation save American democracy?

[ivwshane]

Imagine the costs of doubling the House side of the Senate building...not to mention the costs of the office staff and misc eauipment, security, salaries and per diem for the representatives themselves...

Imagine the cost of not having adequate representation in a democracy. If costs are a concern to you when it comes to getting better representation, maybe you aren’t the defender of democracy you think you are.

 

[EduCat]

Getting rid of politicians is the only way. They don't represent anyone but themselves.

 

[BoomerD]

We have a $6.4 trillion annual federal budget. I think we can handle it.

So...a major tax increase...or a major cut in services?

Our Costly Congress | Nieman Foundation

To promote and elevate the standards of journalism

nieman.harvard.edu

(note the date of that article: July 21, 1962)
here's another from 2013:

The Actual Cost of Congress 2013

I read the articles on that congressman whining about his tiny salary, over 10 times my retirement income, and wondered what it actually cost us taxpayers to keep these clowns and frauds in such ...

www.dailykos.com

None of those include the cost of the building itself, nor many of the perks congressmen get that we pay for.

Estimates are that congress costs the US taxpayers around $5 billion per year...but those estimates don't include all the funding that's hidden from public view.

 

[BoomerD]

Imagine the cost of not having adequate representation in a democracy. If costs are a concern to you when it comes to getting better representation, maybe you aren’t the defender of democracy you think you are.

How much do we blow up the budget to get the numbers you think would provide adequate representation? I don't disagree that with the population increase in the USA, the 435 in the house is woefully low, but there has to be some kind of limit to how many representatives (read overpaid, pampered leeches) the country can afford.

 

[Perknose]

Proportional representation? Sure! Look how well it's worked in Israel!

 

[brycejones]

How much do we blow up the budget to get the numbers you think would provide adequate representation? I don't disagree that with the population increase in the USA, the 435 in the house is woefully low, but there has to be some kind of limit to how many representatives (read overpaid, pampered leeches) the country can afford.

It's a not even a pimple on a mite, on a fly's ass as percentage of the US budget. This is a really really weak argument.

 

[hal2kilo]

Imagine the costs of doubling the House side of the Senate building...not to mention the costs of the office staff and misc eauipment, security, salaries and per diem for the representatives themselves...

Peanuts, you piker.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Peanuts, you piker.

Agreed, minus the piker part. The cost of expanding the house is pretty minimal.

I mean let's suppose you double it, and the cost of every additional rep is $1M/yr (including staff). That's 435M. Absolutely peanuts compared to the federal budget.

It's not even an NRO-buck (the national reconnaissance office getting so much money that $1B to them is like $1 to everyone else)

 

[pmv]

If cost were the only consideration why have as many representatives as you do? Why didn't you stick with just the one, old George III? Or reduce it to just Trump and let him decide everything - it would save on salaries, after all.

 

[fskimospy]

Legislative branch appropriations for FY24 are about $530 million. If you doubled that let's call it $1 billion. Even if you look at it only in the context of discretionary spending ($1.7 trillion) this would represent an increase of 1/3,400 of the federal budget.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30064

 

[senseamp]

I don't know what will save it, but every day, Republicans find a way to make the Founding Fathers look like idiots.