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proposal from Harvard Law: carve Washington DC into 127 states to provide votes and reshape US democratic process (harvardlawreview.org)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Aatube@thriv.social to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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Pack the Union: A Proposal to Admit New States for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution to Ensure Equal Representation

While a step in the right direction, these proposals are inadequate. To create a system where every vote counts equally, the Constitution must be amended. To do this, Congress should pass legislation reducing the size of Washington, D.C., to an area encompassing only a few core federal buildings and then admit the rest of the District’s 127 neighborhoods as states. These states — which could be added with a simple congressional majority — would add enough votes in Congress to ratify four amendments: (1) a transfer of the Senate’s power to a body that represents citizens equally; (2) an expansion of the House so that all citizens are represented in equal-sized districts; (3) a replacement of the Electoral College with a popular vote; and (4) a modification of the Constitution’s amendment process that would ensure future amendments are ratified by states representing most Americans.

Vox article that summarizes it: https://www.vox.com/2020/1/14/21063591/modest-proposal-to-save-american-democracy-pack-the-union-harvard-law-review

all from January 2020

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[–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 6 points 1 day ago

I hadn’t seen this proposal yet, but this type of reform strategy is usually my favorite.

It not only acknowledges what we have now is broken, it actually uses that very brokenness to break free so that we can finally fix it.

It also is one of the only ways to maintain provenance. Yes, we could just discard the old government and start over, and that may become necessary, but clever workarounds can enact reform without the years of upheaval and instability.