Economist’s View: “Choosing the Optimal Number of Representatives in Modern Democracies”

Elaine pointed this article out to me.

The authors have plotted out the various democracies population/representative ratios  and have come up with an optimal number. Theirs is POP raised to 0. 4 power. Almost a square-root of the population. Based on the current US population of  300,000,000 that comes to 2460 representatives, about one representative per 122,000 citizens.  Very close to  the number in my previous discussion on this subject.

What I don’t quite agree with in their analysis is the inclusion of Senators or Peers or Upper House members as representatives. Using the US as an example, the Upper House, the Senate, represent the States and not the individual citizens. That is the role of the House of Representatives.

I thought that in most countries the Upper House represents regional groups in a similar manner as the Senate.  The Senate provides two representatives per State, independent of the size or population of the State. They are elected by the citizens of the State today, rather than being appointed by the State as they were initially. Should they still be considered State Representatives? or just some sort of super citizen representative? Presumably, the Senate can put the brakes on run-away populism and the ‘tyranny of the majority’ if the House gets a bee in its bonnet, but if both houses get a bee in the bonnet, then watch out.

I see from the article that determining an optimal number of representatives has been around for a while. It looks like the numbers are getting pretty solid. I’m not sure why their number for US representatives is so much lower than mine.  They say their model shows 807 combined Representatives and Senators, while my calculator shows raising the Population to the .4 power gives 2460. I think 807 is still way to low for a representative democracy of 300,000,000 citizens.

If I have used my calculator properly, 18,500,516 raised to the .4 power is 807.   The more I look at their numbers for other countries, I question the equation they are using.  They say France’s optimal number of Reps is 545, with a population of over 60 million, ( 1 rep/110,000) while Italy’s optimal number is 570 with  population of 58 million (1 rep/101,000). By my calculator that should be 1292 and 1275 respectively (1 rep/46,500 and 1 rep/45,500) Maybe I need to go back and take some remedial math courses and see if I can figure this out.  They mention a banana curve in the article (evidently a base-running technique) need to find out more on that.

“David is extremely principled and dedicated to doing what he feels is right, and can be a very tough customer when he perceives others as obstacles to achieving those goals,” Berenson said. “But it’s not personal in the sense that ‘I don’t like you.’ It’s all about the underlying principle.”

From a Washington Post Article

It is a fine and good thing when someone puts principle over personal good, especially in the public interest, to do what they feel is right and proper and to promote the right whenever possible.

Of course, in America, it would also be nice if that person had American principles and not some jingoistic notion of national pride, nor some principles based on a cult of personality. Some concept of democracy and a republic would be nice, plus some principles founded on the Bill of Rights.

But no, the principles of the Bush/Cheney White House seem to be anti-American and anti-democratic. They are willing to undermine the principles this country was founded on, in exchange for their notion of “protecting the American way of life” and for fantasized short-term political gains.

The idea of an “American way” has evolved and strayed so far from the original notions of the founders that the citizens don’t seem to realize what is happening to them. We citizens need to hold our government accountable. We are a government of the People, by the People, for the People. When someone says the government is bad, they are saying the people are bad. And the government that we need to hold accountable includes the Congress, starts with the Congress. The Executive branch, the President, doesn’t represent the People, Congress does. (And we have no idea of what the Vice-President is supposed to be doing to the People.) The Executive, the President, is supposed to execute the will of Congress – the representatives of the People.

I, for one, am getting sick and tired of this concept that people seem to be developing that we need to have a single person in charge. A single person that decides policy and implements it. Our Congress certainly seems to be leaning in that direction. A majority believe that our actions in Iraq are wrong but if the President wants to fund them, who are we to say nay?

Democracy is ugly, governments should be inefficient, and one-person rule is wrong.