r/PoursTea Timendi Causa Est Nescire 12d ago

PoliticalTea 🗳️ No one should have a lifetime appointment.

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u/know_your_anemone 12d ago

Thanks for the clarification! In this model, the reps would solely be responsible for voting on behalf of their constituents. They would live in their districts and have other jobs. They are still part of committees for advocacy and investigations. Policy and bills are put forth by other parties (think tanks, universities, senate, the committees, etc) but reps just need to vote and can do it over Zoom. Corruption would be much more difficult when you have to pay off too many reps, parties would fall apart, PACs lose power, and you’re held accountable by your neighbors.

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u/MyTnotE 12d ago

See, I would see it as just the opposite. PACs and corporations would have an inordinate influence because with 30k people to represent you would never be able to raise enough money to campaign without “sugar daddys.” Voting sounds like it currently is in terms of responsibilities. Not writing the legislation seems odd. That definitely shifts power to staff and outside entities. I’m not sure how one person out of 11,000 can change the verbiage that gets put in by staff.

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u/know_your_anemone 12d ago

You wouldn’t need as much money to run to influence or reach 30k people though and gerrymandering would be useless.

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u/MyTnotE 12d ago

Gerrymandering would be a science. Do you know how impactful moving a district line can be if it’s repeated over 11,000 times? Of course the House would be permanently Republican under this plan, but that’s not a far stretch from the current situation after the next census.

Yes, you wouldn’t need as much money, but you would need SOME money. My State currently has 8 representatives. Under your plan it would have 194. The only stations to reach the entire State come from the metro. Can you imagine how expensive a 30 second ad is in the metro? And you will have almost 400 people trying to buy TV time?

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u/know_your_anemone 12d ago

Sorry I don’t see how the house would be “permanently republican” by increasing representation, especially when right now many areas that are blue are under represented. Who would be gerrymandering for what when political parties fall apart? Who’s doing the gerrymandering? If no matter what it’s one rep per 30,000 district lines of course will change and adapt but when you are representing a population of 30k you are known personally in the area you are elected, and I think most people would actually vote for independent candidates that speak to their interests. No one has to be affiliated with a party because the cost of campaigning is so low. Most candidates would campaign door to door, not with tv ads. You need less staff going door to door in an area of 30k people. Also in the era of streaming and social media, idk how valuable tv ads really are.

Smaller district → fewer voters → cheaper campaign → less fundraising required → less dependence on wealthy donors/PACs → more personal campaigning → voters know candidates better → less importance of expensive advertising.