David Speiser guest-posting at ACX is persuasive about twenty-seven more states passing the Congressional Apportionment Act. It is the only one of the original twelve of the Bill of Rights which never did pass. (The eleventh passed in 1992, becoming the 27th Amendment to the Constitution.) It would increase the number of representatives in the House from 435 to 6641. I usually hate gimmicky ideas like this, but stick with him. He has put a lot of thought into the ups and downs of this.
Would this solve the issues that make Congress so hated? It would be a step in the right direction. Our various think tanks identified three primary reasons behind the estrangement of Congress and citizens: gerrymandering, national partisan polarization, and the influence of large donors. This fixes, or at least ameliorates, all of them.
Third parties would finally get a reasonable chance to gain a seat. Both the initial and the ongoing publicity for that one would be a foundation for others.
Won’t Congress Become Unmanageable?
At first, probably yes!
But some immediate self-correction would have to take place. It's an intriguing read.
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