9 States have 18 Senators and Half the US Population

[kurt_cagle]

92. The Senate

The reason for the existence of the Senate was to appease the southern landholders who were concerned that they would have less power in a monocameral government based upon population, and who would have otherwise balked at joining the union. Thus it was inherently undemocratic from the outset.

Now, personally, I like the idea of a Federal lottery. Every six years, anyone with a social security number and with no criminal record would be chosen at random from the United States, and offered the position. If they turn it down, then it goes to the next person chosen. If you are chosen as Senator, you have to relocate to the state in question, and spend a year becoming familiar with the issues, then you are allowed in the Senate for five years. At then end of that period, you get a month to debrief your replacement. Having served, you can't serve again.

Over a long enough period of time, you'll get a popular representational system, but it also means that your senator may very well come from a completely different region of the country and will be seeing the problems and strengths of a state with fresh eyes. It also means that they won't be beholden to special interests in that state to the same extent, and it will people besides lawyers turned politicians an opportunity to be actively involve in politics.