sisboombaa wrote:
We now have 50 senators and 435 house representatives plus their aids, clerical help, offices, and the expense accounts for all personnel and offices, office equipment, etc. This could add up to over 2 million dollars per legislator per year. This does not take into account the future expenses for benefits such as retirements, health insurance, etc.
Do you suppose we would function better at half the price if we cut the number of legislators in half? Am I the only tax paying citizen to ask this question? What are your thoughts?
We now have 50 senators and 435 house representati... (
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The problem is, that as you cut down the number of House members, you make those left much more powerful.
The number of House members is not about money, it is about representation.
If you want to save money, cut their salaries and benefits, as Ben Franklin said, government jobs should be reluctantly taken and gladly given up. If a government job becomes a source of wealth, the people will suffer no end of misery. Those that seek public office for personal gain will push aside those that are civic minded and it is the civic minded you want to attract.
The idea behind the house was to have one representative for every 30,000 people. That's what gave the citizen his voice and stopped any particular representative from getting too powerful.
But they recognized that as the country grew, it would be impractical to allow the House to get too big, as it would be too unwieldy. So after the minimum number of representatives were met, the Constitution allowed congress to determine where to limit the number.
What you need to understand is that the representative, that represents you, should come from your area, so that you know who he is, by reputation, so that his voice reflects the voice of you and your neighbourhood.
If you limit the number of representatives, then your voice gets drowned out as he represents multiple neighbourhoods.
If you cut the number down severely, then your voting for someone you know nothing about and he knows nothing about you or your neighbourhood.
As you limit the number of representatives, it becomes much easier to buy them by special interests.
You no longer have anyone else to turn to to fight any decisions they make.
It is about representation.
Representation is just one of the costs of a free self governing people.
Freedom ain't free, it never was and will never be free.