AN ALTERNATE CONGRESS

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution states: "The Number of Representatives [in Congress] shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand [people]..." So how is it that many Congressmen now represent hundreds of thousands of people, rather than the suggested 30,000 people?

I would argue that this discrepancy is at the heart of the current failure of democracy in America today. Because they have to represent too many people, Congressmen have become too distant, and for a variety of reasons, their small number makes them infinitely more controllable by special interests.

I therefore put forth the idea of an Alternate Congress that would have one representative for every 30,000 people. This requires about 10,000 representatives.

While it may sound strange, a body of this nature could actually be organized as an informal watchdog group and it could be funded by private, voluntary contributions. There is no need for a constitutional amendment immediately. It could be done privately and informally. The individual representatives would have no formal powers, but the body would have enormous influence and could exercise a great deal of control over corruption.

Districting would be done by a random computer algorithm. This avoids gerry-mandering of disttricts. Each voting district would start out as one zip code. If there were fewer than 30,000 in that zipcode, the next contiguous zipcode would be added. If there were more than 30,000 in the zipcode, it would comprise multiple districts. There is no reason for any human interference in this process.

The are many advantages of this system:

1. Resistance to special interest corruption. For example, Bill Gates has $40 billion. For $5 billion he could give every single Congressman and every single Senator a $10 million bribe. If these people would then pass a large tax cut for billionaires, eliminate the estate tax for billionaires and eliminate dividend taxes for billionaires, this $5 billion bribe would be a good investment.

However, with an Alternate Congress this would be impossible. Ten thousand representatives are simply too many to bribe.

2. True respresentative democracy. With a constituency of only 30,000 people, the Congressman and his people can directly interact. The Congressman could be immediately contacted whenever an individual had a problem, even if they weren't a billionaire.

3. The elimination of election by advertising revenue. With a small electorate, the bi-annual elections would take place mostly by word-of-mouth. Advertising would be ineffective because there could extensive interaction and frequent debates between candidates at local venues.

4. The body could be created and run on private funding. Elected officials could be paid by contributions from their 30,000 constituents, or possibly by a national revenue pool. Elections could be done by volunteers submitting paper ballots. With such a small constituency, the elections would frequently be unanymous.

I would suggest that people consider the creation of this body, since it could temper the current corruption and one-sidedness currently residing in Washington.

Draft 1: 1/7/05.
Draft 2: 1/9/05.