debeda wrote:
The part that you are missing is that the STATES need to be represented, not just the people.
The states already have representation through the Senate. Every state no matter how small has two senators. This is why we have two chambers in Congress. The Senate represents the states and the House represents the people.
debeda wrote:
People jammed into cities have little to no awareness of the needs of farming, ranching, or dairy communities
And people flung across the countryside have little to no awareness of the needs of every industry you haven't mentioned.
debeda wrote:
if those are underrepresented it would affect those in cities more than anyone.
Yeah, I keep hearing this... I honestly think you country folks are overestimating your importance. Perhaps it's an effort to validate yourselves, I don't know. What I do know is that a lot of food in city restaurants and markets are imported and the major cities have the commercial power to encourage states to negotiate trade with other countries, unless the federal government interferes with trade tariffs.
That being said... I'm really not trying to marginalize the farmer. But you are trying to marginalize the city dweller and I'm just saying there's really no basis for that.
debeda wrote:
Densely populated areas also tend to produce less self reliant and free thinking people (my opinion).
I strongly disagree with your opinion. The vast majority of highly educated professionals are in the cities not the country. This includes most of the doctors, almost all the scientists and pretty much all the engineers. When I helped develop software that allows combines to be guided by satellite links (for more efficient coverage) I was effectively changing the way farmers work and I was in the city. Even the satellites themselves are designed by engineers in the city. My dad was an aerospace engineer who helped design the rocket boosters that put satellites in orbit and this was in Los Angeles.
The fact is farmers are increasingly dependent on new technologies to improve their yields and almost all of that technology comes from cities.
As for self-reliance I don't see any difference. People in the city have to work to survive just like you folks in the country do. I have in-laws that that live in the county and I know they buy the same groceries that we do in the city. If your telling me that farmers grow their own food, let me remind you that a lot of people in the cities do too. Cities are not all apartments, we have houses too, with yards. I grew up in Los Angeles eating fruits and vegetables grown in the backyard. When I had my house in San Diego we were growing grapes and avocados. People even raise chickens in the city.
There is a LOT of emphasis these days on making cities greener, more sustainable and more self-reliant. And community gardens are popping up everywhere.
But what's more important is that none of this matters. We are talking about representation. Are you saying that people who are not self-reliant should not be represented?
debeda wrote:
It is important that all states have reasonable representation, not just California, New York city and Chicago.....
And why would the people in the other states NOT be represented if every district has the same number of constituents? I would urge you think about that for a minute.
Let's look at California for instance... home to some major cities but also some of the most prolific farm lands in the country. In fact, California produces more fruits, vegetables and dairy than any other state in the union, including more cheese than Wisconsin and more peaches than Georgia. Even Japan is heavily dependent on rice grown in California.
Your insistence that we divide things up by state ignores the differences between the needs of differing industries within the state. California is very much a purple state. I know some of your conservative friends on this site live in California. In fact there are more Republicans in California than there are in Texas.
New York state isn't much different... Yes, there's NYC, but what do you see in upstate New York? Farms and Republicans. And since you brought up Chicago... Illinois is huge on agriculture.
Stop over-complicating things... There is zero reason to get in the way of giving every citizen in the country an equal vote.