it has always amazed me how few Memebrs of the House of representatives and Senate there are for a country the size of the US. In Australia (with a population of just over 20 millions) HoR has 150 and Senate 76)Superficially, it is attractive to have only a small neumber of legislators. It is cheaper and easier to pay and accommodate fewer people. However, it also leads to much more corruption as the power of the few is incredibly potent, particularly so when it is clear that many of them have safe seats. There should be at least 850 MHRs in the US. This would mean many more marginal electorates which would mean that politicians would have to be careful to represent their constituents. it also means that the voters would have more chance to get rid of useless politicians. The likes of Barney Frank would alos have less clout because they would represent a much smaller amount of people.

In any case, aren’t Americans supposed to be into participatory democracy to a dgree not known elsewhere? Doesn’t it then make sense to have at least 40 or 50 MHRs for a city the size of NY? Also the more MHrs you have the more chance there is that mavericks and independents will get elected as they do here in Oz.