Harvard report suggests radical step to fix American democracy by dividing Washington DC into 127 states
At a time when the functioning of American democracy has come under repeated questioning, Harvard has released a radical proposal to fix it. According to the report, the Congress needs to make a law whereby the size of Washington DC is reduced to just a few major federal buildings and its 127 neighborhoods are declared as states.
These new states will add enough votes for the Congress to rewrite the Constitution so that ‘every vote counts equally’ by ratifying four amendments, as per Harvard’s proposal. The proposal also calls for equal representation in both the Houses and doing away with the Electoral College with a popular vote and modifying the Constitution’s amendment process that would ensure “future amendments are ratified by states representing most Americans”.
Points like the loss of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election despite having won more popular votes than incumbent Donald Trump; a Senate where the “majority” represents about 15 million fewer people than the “minority” and a Supreme Court where two justices were nominated by the president having less popular votes and confirmed by that Senate have raised concerns over America’s democracy.
The note in the Harvard Law Review titled “Pack the Union: A Proposal to Admit New States for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution to Ensure Equal Representation” which was published on January 10 has come up with the constitutional remedy, saying: “Congress should pass legislation reducing the size of Washington, D.C., to an area encompassing only a few core federal buildings and then admit the rest of the District’s 127 neighborhoods as states. These states — which could be added with a simple congressional majority — would add enough votes in Congress to ratify four amendments: (1) a transfer of the Senate’s power to a body that represents citizens equally; (2) an expansion of the House so that all citizens are represented in equal-sized districts; (3) a replacement of the Electoral College with a popular vote; and (4) a modification of the Constitution’s amendment process that would ensure future amendments are ratified by states representing most Americans.”
The unsigned note suggested division of the D.C. area into states for it is the only place in the country that can do it legally and every subdivision “voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic party in the 2016 election”.
It also said the Democratic caucus in the Congress could be confident that the new states created within the District would elect like-minded delegations to the Congress.
'Radical but better than the current system in place'
Admitting the proposal sounds radical, the Harvard piece said: “Radical as this proposal may sound, it is no more radical than a nominally democratic system of government that gives citizens widely disproportionate voting power depending on where they live. The people should not tolerate a system that is manifestly unfair; they should instead fight fire with fire, and use the unfair provisions of the Constitution to create a better system.”
The report added that states do not have interests that are independent of the people who reside in them and hence an equal number of people “ought to be entitled to an equal number of representatives”.
As per data, it is predicted that by 2040, as high as 40 per cent of the population will live in just five states. Half of America’s population will be represented by just 16 senators while the other half by 84. These revelations make unequal representation a major potential challenge for American democracy.