Republican Knives come out for Palin...lots of dirt

[Kuciwalker]

KH is obviously right.

Another part of the problem is just regional representation in general. If we eliminated that a lot of the problems in the House and Senate would disappear.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse if you want to protect from federal overreach my point is that paring back the overbroad interpretations of certain federal mandates (like, say, the commerce clause) is a better way to go about things than is granting South Dakota 2 Senators.

It's flat-out impossible without either firing the entire Supreme Court or amending every line of the Constitution to say "look you stupid a**holes, what this sentence is intended to mean is this and this and this and this, not that and that and that and that" ad nauseam. Otherwise they will continue to read it in the most expansive means possible.

That's assuming the federal government would ever voluntarily sacrifice the power that justifies 95% of its existence, which is of course a pipe dream to begin with. If there's any significant value to federalism (and I don't suggest that there is mind you), then keeping a Senate is the only way to preserve what little is left of it. The Constitution hasn't been a federalist document for over half a century, and it's a bi*ch to try getting amendments ratified.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
KH is obviously right.

Everybody should be forced to have that in their sig. It would save a lot of trouble.

[Dr Strangelove]

Hey I have an idea. Let's merge Rhode Island with Connecticut, Delaware with Maryland, Vermont and New Hampshire with Maine, North Dakota with South Dakota, Idaho with Montana, then we'll divide California into 3 states and divide New York, Florida and Texas each into two states. That will make the states more nearly equal.

[KrazyHorse]

There is no way I'm living in Delaware, you bastard.

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
KH is obviously right.

Another part of the problem is just regional representation in general. If we eliminated that a lot of the problems in the House and Senate would disappear.

I think completely removing regional representation leads to other problems. Having the house be regional representation by population and the senate have some sort of PR would be better than having a second body that has regional representation, but heavily skewed towards the rural areas.

[Elok]

Wait, you mean you're now living in MD?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Asher
Have you heard of one Ted Stevens?

Do you even know some of the crazies in the House. I mean that's the body that led to the rise of Tom Delay!

[Asher]

I can name more crazy Senators than Representatives, and considering how many more Representatives there are, that's pretty impressive.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Elok
Wait, you mean you're now living in MD?

Last time I checked. Where have you been for the last 5 years?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Asher
I can name more crazy Senators than Representatives, and considering how many more Representatives there are, that's pretty impressive.

That's only because you don't know as many Representatives (they tend to be less in the national eye).

Most of the crazy right wingers and crazy left wingers tend to be in the House. They tend to be too nuts to be elected by an entire State.

[Ramo]

Alaska is roughly as populous as your average House district.

Your argument would make sense if states had equivalent populations. But they obviously don't. What the system does, the only thing it does, is give a bunch of hicks in the middle of nowhere, who live off federal subsidies, a grossly disproportionate amount of power in national politics.

[GePap]

The original idea of Federalism, as laid out in the Constitution, ended in 1865, when it became clear that once you were in the Union, unless everyone agreed to seperate amicably, you were stuck in.

It's "the United States is", not "the United States are".

[Elok]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Last time I checked. Where have you been for the last 5 years?

I always assumed you were a canuck. Maybe it's the hockey thing. Anyway, I assume that under a merger Delaware would become part of Maryland, not vice versa.

[Asher]

He is a Canuck.