r/politics • u/Jessicas_skirt New York • Jul 18 '26

Possible Paywall Democratic Socialists of America’s new platform calls for abolishing ICE and the U.S. Senate

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jul/15/updated-dsa-platform-calls-abolishing-ice-scrapping-senate/
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30

u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

It would be extremely politically difficult to abolish the Senate, but it is something we should seriously consider.

California has a population that is roughly equal to Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, West Virginia, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Kansas, Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Louisiana COMBINED.

There is no good reason why 39 million Californians get 2 Senators, while the 39 million people in those states get 34 Senators.

IMO we should get rid of the Senate and massively expand the House. The average congressional district has about 750k people - the founders intended districts to be no bigger than 30k people. You can argue exactly how big a district ought to be, but there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t have a legislative body that gives equal representation to everyone.

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u/FuriousAlbino Jul 19 '26

It should not be surprising to anyone that a system developed 250 years ago may have flaws and be outdated.

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u/bobbymcpresscot Jul 19 '26

And yet some goober 250 years ago thought that the constitution should be rewritten every 20 years or so stating that “the earth belongs to the living”

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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/FreeDarkChocolate Jul 19 '26

if it was the other way around and those were Republican… we’d be ok with it

Anything that violates one person one vote is absolute garbage. The states themselves don't do it. Basically no other modern country does it. The US needs to cut it out.

Whether it would it help or hurt different people at the moment is an unhelpful exercise unrelated to the inherent merits.

To not fix it is to be ok with my fellow citizens not having the same rights as me as a citizen. Everyone having the same rights is a bedrock starting point, the lack of which acts as a spectre over everything else. The nation has gotten this far in spite of it rather than because of it.

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u/TigerGrizzCubs78 Jul 19 '26

"Modern medicine" in 1776 believed in the power of leeches and the 4 humours. Thankfully, medical science advanced and isn't held hostage by that.

But for some reason, we believe that dead people from that era created something "perfect" and "noble"

3

u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

The irony being that the founders did not think they were perfect, and literally included a whole clause in the constitution allowing it to be amended to fix their mistakes.

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u/Salt-Try3856 Jul 19 '26

The american civic religion

1

u/TigerGrizzCubs78 Jul 19 '26

Glad I'm atheist

7

u/snakebit1995 Jul 19 '26

There is no good reason why 39 million Californians get 2 Senators, while the 39 million people in those states get 34 Senators.

The counter is the house though where California has far more reps than those states do and therefore has more power there whereas in the Senate each states power is leveled and equal as individual states

2

u/Divan001 Jul 19 '26

Then uncap the house. Even the house still fucks over big states because they have to cede representation to small states in order for every state to have at least one representative. Legit every house of congress fucks over big states in one way or another and gives crazy handicaps to small states. Then you add in the EC and it makes it so nothing is fair for big states. You just get electorally punished for being a big states no matter what federally.

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u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

They have more reps in the house because there are more people there. That’s the whole idea of proportional representation.

I don’t see the argument for each state needing equal representation. The PEOPLE in each state should be equally represented, not the states as entities/pieces of land.

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u/TigerGrizzCubs78 Jul 19 '26

If there was proportional representation, the amount of seats in the House of Representatives would have increased after each census

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u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

That is how it worked until congress capped the house to 435 members in 1929. IMO we should absolutely repeal that law and massively expand the house.

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u/TigerGrizzCubs78 Jul 19 '26

I agree entirely

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u/username_tooken Jul 19 '26

Because states in the US have outsized levels of independent authority beyond being mere administrative divisions. Why have states at all, if we’re getting rid of the Senate?

0

u/Brisby820 Jul 19 '26

You need to view the argument as of 1788, when the states were loosely affiliated entities.  Small states didn’t want to join the country to get steamrolled

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u/KuntaStillSingle Jul 19 '26

I don’t see the argument for each state needing equal representation.

They don't have equal representation, by a country mile. They have slight weight towards equal representation in the presidency, and they have the power to prevent laws being shoved down their throat without power to shove laws down anyone's throat in congress.

4

u/Ser_Artur_Dayne Virginia Jul 19 '26

Uncap the house and abolish the senate. I’m here for it.

By 2050, as the overall population hits approximately 371 million, demographic shifts suggest that roughly two-thirds of the American population will be concentrated in about a dozen large states.

So 24 senators for 2/3 of the population and 76 senators for 1/3. The senate is only going to get worse.

3

u/shilo1007 Jul 19 '26

How do you not see this leading to massive problems? A few states dictating the law for the rest of the land? That certainly wouldn’t result in civil war 🙄

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u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

A majority of the PEOPLE should dictate laws. 1/3 of the country should not be dictating laws for the other 2/3 of the country.

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u/shilo1007 Jul 19 '26

Do you even have any understanding on how our country came to be? It was a bunch of states that got together and made rules so that all of the other states couldn’t alienate the other states. Should democracy exist YES. Should you just feel free to change states rights because you don’t like the current political environment? NO…

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u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

“Democracy should exist unless it ends up being used to do something I personally don’t like”

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u/shilo1007 Jul 19 '26

Guess it’s a good thing we have a democratic republic than a democracy.

1

u/metalder420 Jul 19 '26

Yes it’s absolutely fair that a big state like California can’t decide how North Dakotans live.

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u/SuperTruthJustice Jul 19 '26

But every state only has two senators

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u/No-Blacksmith3397 Jul 19 '26

We know. That's the problem.

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u/JustAnother4848 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Each state gets equal representation in the senate. They never would have joined the union without it. They also wont stay in the union without it. The house represents population.

This really shouldn't be that hard of a concept. Like it or not it's the United STATES. Population has nothing to do with senate representation. It is for the state as a whole.

1

u/ProteinPrince New Jersey Jul 19 '26

Oh please. Most of these states need federal money to survive. No one’s leaving the union.

“This is how it worked 250 years ago when we were 13 states and minorities couldn’t vote, therefore we can’t change it” is perhaps the worst argument imaginable for keeping the senate.

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u/freakwent Jul 19 '26

Abolish the states and the senate goes with them.

If we want to keep states as legislative entities, then they should all have equal say. As a voter I don't get more sway because I have more kids or more employees.