Most conservatives would agree that the federal government concentrates too much power in too few hands.  It was not always so.  Regarding representation in Congress, Article One of the Constitution states, "The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand."  In a nation of three hundred sixty million people, that would compute to twelve thousand representatives instead of the four hundred fifty we now have.  

Now wait, you say — that would make the government too big.  No, it would decrease the amount of power that each representative has.  There would be no one representative who has enough clout to command the presently vast millions of dollars in campaign funds, and certainly, none that would be worth bribing for that kind of money.  Most importantly, each private citizen would have vastly more say in his government than is now the case.  

I have stated this as quickly as possible, because whenever I have made these points before, the reflexive reaction of too many conservatives is to say that more representation equals bigger government.  Exactly the opposite is the case.  Twelve thousand representatives, although greater in number, would be more responsive to their voters, and more closely in touch with them.  Yes, their raw numbers would be larger, but their individual power would be thinly diluted, and their influence would be minuscule compared to the top ten representatives now in Congress.  (There would be no need to pay them exorbitant salaries.)  

The Capitol building could not house so many, but there would be no need for that.  Bear in mind that government buildings in the District of Columbia already house many thousands of staff, bureaucrats, and employees.  Many of those jobs would not be needed in a smaller government, and certainly not in the capital city.  Most representatives could work solely from a local office in their district, where they now have satellite offices — but there would be a big difference: you could actually meet with your congressman, instead of getting in line with eight hundred thousand others whom he presently purports to represent.

In addition to reducing the power of individual congressmen, we should also do the same with judges and justices.  The Democrats are presently trying to pack the Supreme Court with partisan jurists, partisan to their leftist interests.  Their intent is to dilute the power of each justice, as a bulwark against any future conservative influence.  Instead, we should dilute the power of individual members of the court.  The exact formula for doing this could take many forms, but the same principle should apply.  No one justice should have the power to impose his ideology on the entire nation in a five-to-four decision.  

By increasing the number of representatives in Congress, we would effectively reduce the power of government, despite a numerical increase in its size.  The power of government would be smaller and the power of the citizenry greater.  There would be no need to try to patch up the excessive size of governments by such artificial means as term limits.  

Yes, it is counterintuitive, but we can reduce the power of government by increasing the number of representatives. 

Image via Max Pixel.

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