Senate Democrats represent MORE PEOPLE than Sen. Repubs

[bain_sidhe]

This is, I think, an important psychological point we need to get into our heads as the Senate pugs try to shut out "the minority party" from having ANY say at all in the governing of this country. I discovered this startling fact after reading about the pugs threat to use the "nucular" option to prevent "the minority" from filibustering Judicial nominees. I started wondering, how many people are represented by that "minority party"? How many people would essentially be told to "go fuck themselves" (ala Cheney) by this maneuver?

I know that Senators are supposed to represent their state's interest - the population of the respective states isn't supposed to matter - that's why each state gets two senators regardless of the population of the state. But judges are given power, not over states, but over people - ALL the people of a state, and they're given that power for life, so I think the raw population numbers matter most when it comes to "consent" to the appointment of judges.

So, I looked up the numbers. According to 2003 census figures (the latest I could find) and assuming that each senator represents the population of the whole state (which he or she is supposed to), Democratic Senators represent 293,698,914 people, or 50.59% of the population. If you add in Jim Jeffords, who caucuses with the Democrats, the number rises to 294,318,021, or 50.7% of the population. Republican Senators, not withstanding their majority status, only represent 286,174,765 people, or 49.30% of the population.

Of course, there are problems with this method - the citizens of each state are counted twice, once for each Senator. And, of course the citizens of states with at least one Republican Senator can arguably be said to have at least a voice in this extension of Cheney Doctrine. So, since the Senators from those "split-personality" states (13 of them) cancel each other out, let's just look at the total population of states (counted once) that are represented by only one party:

Twenty-one states are represented only by Republicans. Only sixteen states are represented only by Democrats. Those numbers look more... er, majoritarian - but the population figures tell a different story: The 21 Republican-represented states have a total population of 116,868,423. The 16 Democratic-represented states - the ones, remember, whose citizens are being invited to "go fuck themselves" - have a total population of 120,940,051 - that is, 4,071,628 more people than the Republican-represented states.

I did a blog entry with more detail on these numbers at http://www.webfaerie.com/faerie_bytes/index.php?p=48

A table with the raw numbers can be found at http://www.webfaerie.com/content/constituents.htm. For those who want to make their own database to play with, a comma-delimited text file is at http://www.webfaerie.com/content/Senators.txt. The table with the states broken out by representation is at http://www.webfaerie.com/content/StatePartyRep_1.html, and the comma-delimited text file of that information is at http://www.webfaerie.com/content/StatePartyRep.txt.

But, if you're not into the number thing, just remember, the so-called "minority" party in the Senate actually represents MORE people than the so called "majority" party.

**edited for formatting boo-boo**

[Guaranteed]

1. Yup- the "beauty" of the Great Compromise.

You should check your numbers, though- we only have about 300,000,000 people in the U.S.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. kick

We Blue States have more people than those red states too.

[Melodybe]

3. Blue States also pay for red states, just saying

[MNAZ]

4. Your numbers are close to being right but...

they are meaningless. It's the same as a repub talking about the US map with all red. If we don't want them talking about that we certainly can't talk about this.

[Withywindle]

5. They're not AS meaningless

The red state/blue state or red county/blue county thing is meaningless because it's so far removed from real numbers. A county where Kerry lost by ONE VOTE would look just as "red" on the two-color map as one where he lost by an 80/20 margin, and that's just ridiculous, it doesn't reflect anything about the actual numbers of Rep/Dem voters at all.

This deals with actual numbers of people, so it tells us quite a bit more. Population density is a factor too -- that West and Midwest all red looks pretty psychologically overwhelming, until you notice that the most densely populated parts of the country are also the bluest.

Note that the three largest cities in the country are all in blue states currently represented by two Democratic Senators (NY, CA, IL).

[bain_sidhe]

6. Huh? Meaningless?

The fact that the representatives of LESS than half the people of this country are threatening to deny the representatives of MORE than half the people in this country a voice in the LIFETIME appointment of judges that ultimately, define the rights of ALL the people is MEANINGLESS? We shouldn't TALK ABOUT THAT when the pugs start threatening to "go nucular"??

I'd hate to see what you consider "meaningful." I suspect it won't look anything like my view of what's "meaningful."

[bain_sidhe]

7. Kick for the after dinner crowd

:kick:

Yes, it's a little gimmicky, but I still think it's an important psychological edge when it comes to fighting back against the "Majority" party that actually represents a MINORITY of the population.

[EVDebs]

8. 40% of eligible voters sat out this election 2004. Therefore only 30%

Bush vs. 29%+ for Kerry in a tight race. BTW, look at the coastal population densities and you get your answers.

see map http://www.census.gov/geo/www/mapGallery/2kpopden.html

then compare to the county-by-county USA Today maps

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm

then look at where over half of US population lives, in coastal counties

[bain_sidhe]

10. That night-time map is awesome!

Wish my black printer cartridge had more ink in it!

[brindis_desala]

9. Corporate personhood + Electoral College =

Plutocracy 1, Democracy 0

[annabanana]

11. ding ding ding..We have a Winner!

"Corporate Personhood" is the biggest single degradation of the entire concept of Democracy.