House Of Representatives Richard Fenno Analysis

The first proposal, of changing the electoral system for the House of Representatives, would mean that each state is represented in proportion to its population. This entails that states with higher populations will receive more votes because they have more seats in the House. Less populous states may argue against this reform because they will have a disadvantage when it comes to voting on legislation. However, the reform also includes having each state serve as electoral districts. In this case, multi-member districts will be needed—proportional representation will require a larger district magnitude. Having these territorial subdivisions will help create an efficient legislative system because there would be less possibility of manipulating the votes—not as relevant to election results when seats are proportional. Having the votes distributed in this manner may help avoid a deadlock and therefore, allow for a faster process when passing legislation. In addition, minorities will have chance to be represented by possibly gaining a seat in a particular district—a highly populous

The events in the congress show who minority and majority groups are dividen even inside and outside the congress.

Today, career politicians are constantly looking for what will aid them in getting reelected. They become more loyal to their campaign fund contributers than to the people whom they represent. This increases the likelihood of having corrupted politicians in office, as they use the government as a vehicle to further their own career (Kurfirst, 1996, p. 123, 129). George Will, a well-known political journalist, was quoted as saying “[The] worst feature of professionalism in politics is that it obliterates the proper distance between the representatives and the represented” (Kurfirst, 1996, p. 125). Even James Madison agreed that legislators were meant to represent the people, not hold office as a career. In The Federalist No. 57 (1788), he wrote, “From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures.” The lack of new faces in Congress today symbolizes that the American legislative branch is straying from its intended purpose.

Without a certain degree of control over the governmental levels of power, blacks end up disproportionately dependent on white-created legislation and white administration of those laws (Pohlmann, 219). The potential dangers of gerrymandering involves the distribution of blacks into districts where they are diluted into a minority or the creation of districts where blacks are an excessive majority so that an overall district majority white can be achieved (Thornburgh v. Gingles, 31). These redistricting plans severely hindered blacks ability to vote for a representative of their choice (1). However, in order to stem the progress of racially discriminating gerrymandering, these districts are examined based on the impact and district composition

As long as there is liberty, different opinions and factions will form. Madison simply wishes to establish a system in which the detrimental effects of factions on the whole government are reduced and kept in check. He argues that a pure democracy cannot mitigate the threats of factions and that only a republic can. He believes that a system of government that allow every citizen to vote directly for laws is dangerous as common people's decisions are affected by their self-interest, instead he advocates a different form of government in which citizens elect a small body of representatives who then vote for laws. Madison’s trust in a republic is fueled and bolstered by his lack of confidence in the people’s capacity to make well-informed

Democracy is conceptualized as a “will of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Intrinsically, all variants of democratic representation must take into consideration the will of the majority of the electorate. In the democratic approach, the representative carries the will of their district to Congress and ensures it is sufficiently expressed. Further, a delegate representative is better placed to be in constant communication with the grassroots and understand their district issues which would also help with the articulation of such matters in the House. Implicitly, delegate representatives also have better chances of re-election as they will often refrain from being in contravention of their district’s

46, James Madison addresses these concerns about the well being of the state governments under the Constitution. Madison argues that the interests of the states will not be lost in Congress, because the loyalty of the legislator will be first to the people of his district and then secondly to the benefit of the whole country. Madison says that the "members of the Federal Legislature will be likely to attach themselves too much to local objects"(Madison 239). Madison tried to alleviate the concerns of the Anti-Federalist concerning what type of recourse the states would have against Federal legislation by saying that the states would have powerful means of opposition to any unfavorable or unwarranted legislation. The powerful means of opposition Madison talks about is the displeasure of the people, whom Madison believes to be the fountain from which the Federal government draws its power.

In 2013, Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (D, OR-4) party unity score was 94% (Weyl, 183). Party unity as defined in the textbook, Congress and Its Members, are votes in which the majority of voting Republicans oppose a majority of voting Democrats. In other words, average votes Peter DeFazio casted with the Democratic majority against the Republican majority. Furthermore, party affiliation as well as ideological positions, and the constituency pressure are strongly correlated with congressmen’s voting decisions (Davidson, Oleskek, & Lee 2014, 255).

The previous passage proves that the constitution’s ideal representative that holds some sort of power and status in government need to be educated and wealthy. To sum it up, those who are already in congress are those who decide who’ll be apart of government, and make decisions that will affect our country. This will further create a division amongst classes and tension between the upper and middle class will diverge from one another.

I feel the system is biased because there are inequalities among the representation and participation of interest groups and constituents in the political system. Unfortunately, poor and uneducated citizens aren’t as organized as interest groups, lobbyists and PACs because they lack the money, resources and connections necessary to influence congress members on legislative bills. It is evident that, “businesses, interest groups and labor unions are spending more than $100 million a month to lobby the federal government”(Associated Press, SFC, 3/7/98). “The actual population of interest groups in Washington surely reflects that there is a class bias in the membership of interest groups”(JBG).

In his book, Tyranny of the Minority, Benjamin Bishin refers to this occurrence through his very own proposed concept called the Subconstituency Politics Theory of Representation. Centered on social psychology and reinforced by multifaceted studies on the behavior pattern illustrated in legislators’ voting, the subconstituency theory is able to effectively explain how candidates ' behavior in campaigns and legislators ' behavior in Congress are affected by the degree of knowledge and participation harbored in the average citizen. According to Bishin, a candidate’s career depends on their ability to “transform passive citizens into active

In discussing the Madisonian Dilemma, one must first ask, “How do you give government enough authority to preserve social order and communal values, but not so much that it places unfair and inappropriate limits on individual freedom of choice?” (Bond & Smith 2013, p. 111) This delicate balance between governmental rights and individual freedoms has been a source of much contention and debate. James Madison, a primary framer of the Constitution and author of 30 of the Federalist Papers, believed that the only way this balance of power could be achieved was through controlling the effects of factions through a representative government, fragmenting the power of that government and creating a system of checks and balances within, and

However, in the 112th Congress, there are only 41 African-American members of the House of Representatives and no African-Americans in the Senate. This could be put down to a number of reasons: gerrymandering (the practice of redrawing congressional districts to disperse [black] communities), lack of finance among the black community, or perhaps it is just because of an ongoing culture of white superiority left in the aftermath of slavery.

Historically in America, voting has been a relatively discriminatory practice. It has limited and deprived many individuals of many diverse races, ethnicities, and walks of life from casting their votes to select the individual who they feel is most educated, and skilled to represent their interests. Not only has this been proven to be wrong by discriminating minority groups in voting, it also has proved to be a process, which minimizes the largest growing demographics in the country. Furthermore, with millennials growing to become more politically active, minority groups are becoming more politically involved than ever. Taking this into account an important question that is raised by the author William Eskridge in his book “Legislation and Statutory Interpretation” is “Would minorities be better off with more representatives who had to pay attention to their interests because they are a powerful and organized constituency, rather than with a few representatives of minority districts who specialize in protecting only their interests?” (Eskridge,Frickley,& Garrett, 2006, pp.55).

This essay determine how 100 congressional seats should be divided among the 10 states of the union. The number of seats in a state should (in any fair distribution) be proportional to its ratio in the population. Therefore rounding according to some (acceptable) rule should be applied.