And Another Thing ...

So now that Senate Democrats have revived the squabble over filibusters by holding up John Bolton’s appointment as U.N. ambassador, it’s time to address one argument lingering in that debate. According to one line of reasoning, the Senate need not concern itself with preserving the rights of the minority, in the form of the filibuster, because those rights are well preserved by the Senate’s disproportional representation. Every state, regardless of population, gets two senators. That gives Wyoming’s half-million citizens as much Senate swagger as California’s 36 million.

When you measure the minority that way, rather than by political parties in the Senate, it can seem convincing. But what happens if you carry the “population minority” one more step?

Using the latest U.S. census figures, the 55 Senate Republicans represent states with a combined population of 142 million. The 44 Democrats hail from states with 151 million (we split the population of states with one senator of each stripe).

So the Republican majority in the Senate actually represents fewer people than the Democratic minority. If you take that thought for a spin, perhaps the nation’s population-minority rights are well protected in the Senate, because that particular minority has 55 votes.

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-- Drex Heikes