tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post7242095120867850340..comments2024-03-02T09:41:35.809-08:00Comments on Donkeylicious - A Blog by Neil Sinhababu and Nicholas Beaudrot: Wanted: More House Members. Must Be Willing To Feel Less Important Than Current House MembersNeil Sinhababuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-24972903059499697112011-05-04T11:21:28.913-07:002011-05-04T11:21:28.913-07:00You say: Yes, India is more of an outlier than the...You say: <i>Yes, India is more of an outlier than the US, w/ 545 legislators per. But India is much more different from the US in many other respects. Per capita GDP, literacy rates, the ability to provide safe drinking water to 99% of its citizens, etc.</i><br /><br />And that therefore makes it not a major democracy? If your intent is to compare the size of Congress to that of the lower houses of other countries that meet some criteria you have established, it would be helpful to know that in the main article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-63095269053265830732011-05-04T10:58:25.586-07:002011-05-04T10:58:25.586-07:00Canada, the UK, Germany, and France all have some ...Canada, the UK, Germany, and France all have some form of government with a legislative branch between the level of city and country. It is true that those governments are less important than our state governments, which may explain why we attach more importance to a smaller number of federal legislators. Not sure about Japan, Spain, or Italy.<br /><br />Yes, India is more of an outlier than the US, w/ 545 legislators per. But India is much more different from the US in many other respects. Per capita GDP, literacy rates, the ability to provide safe drinking water to 99% of its citizens, etc.Nick Beaudrothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02794690208464883973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-40208782762368794032011-05-04T10:43:54.758-07:002011-05-04T10:43:54.758-07:00Um...what about India? You know, the world's l...Um...what about India? You know, the world's largest democracy. Actually, including India in here would make the U.S. look really good in terms of the number of people represented by each member of the lower house.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-41238946410896156402011-05-04T10:34:24.210-07:002011-05-04T10:34:24.210-07:00Last time I checked (a) the US was larger than any...Last time I checked (a) the US was larger than any of the countries you are comparing it to and (b) the US had state legislatures that also represent their constituents. How about the other countries?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-41465135817823133052011-05-04T09:32:42.916-07:002011-05-04T09:32:42.916-07:00Peter Levine pointed me to some study that shows t...Peter Levine pointed me to some study that shows that Lower House size tends to grow with the cube root of the population. Which would put the U.S. at something like 660 members; 10 more than the U.K. That would get us down to 450k constituents/district, which is better but not really appreciably smaller :/.Nick Beaudrothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02794690208464883973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-18700688186632997682011-05-04T08:43:59.537-07:002011-05-04T08:43:59.537-07:00For a strategy to reach a larger House, try sugges...For a strategy to reach a larger House, try suggesting an apportionment change like this:<br /><br />"The size of the House will be set such that no state loses representation from the previous Census."<br /><br />Politicians would have a lot of incentive to support that (who likes their seat getting eliminated), and it would cause a steady increase in size.John Thackerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15269867695937765049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-27399152539667904882011-05-04T08:40:27.435-07:002011-05-04T08:40:27.435-07:00The chart isn't very convincing you know. The ...The chart isn't very convincing you know. The first read from it is "most legislative bodies have 300-600 members, and don't want to go above that". The US just has way more population than those countries.Bluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14667147687700902147noreply@blogger.com