The Single Most Undemocratic & Partisan Law Ever Passed In America
- William Robinson
- Apr 2
- 3 min read
Why I’m Outraged With the Donkeys & Elephants
The single, most fundamental element of a thriving Democracy is the appropriate level of Representation of The People. The importance of Citizen Representation is evidenced and amplified by the Founders of the United States Constitution when they signed it on January 18, 1777, and it was ratified by the States March 4, 1789.
The Founders noted it as Section 2 of the Article I. Article I, Section I creates Congress:
‘All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.’
Immediately following in Section 2, it spells out that the House elections are held every 2 years, Citizens must be 25 years old, how people are counted for the census, and states:
‘The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such a Manner as they shall by Law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative…’
The Enumeration refers to how many House Representatives each state would receive. Drift back over 100 years ago and envision the thick layer of heavy cigar smoke hanging over the group of men as they argued about how to divide up the seats of the House of Representatives. The anger was evident and the rhetoric unconciliatory. There were reports of yelling and threats amongst members of their own party, and between the Democrat and Republican members of Congress.
Arguments erupted about having to honor Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and increase the size of the House with every census. Every ten years the debate over how many Representatives each State gets continued to get more and more partisan as the population of America was growing and shifting from rural to more urban. With the 1910 census, the House was ‘Sized Up’ to 435 Members. After the 1920 census Congress couldn’t work together to add more members due to the increase in population and the ultra-partisan divide continued for another nine years.
I find it fascinating that the ultra-partisanship that led to a deadlock on the Enumeration actually led to a very Bi-partisan law that has stripped Americans of our most Fundamental Right of Appropriate Representation. In 1929, the Senate voted with a unanimous voice vote, and the House voted 291 in favor of, and 97 against; to pass the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929. President Hoover signed it into law on June 18, 1929. And we’ve been at 435 Representatives for 115 years.
It won’t be easy since both the Democratic and Republican Parties likely would not support it as it risks their stranglehold on American politics. It needs to start at the local level with all of us signing a Contract with Americans to show our support for ‘Take Back the House’.
A key to our success is getting local elected officials sitting on the school boards and libraries, city and county council members, and State Senators and State Representatives to sign a Contract with Americans to back PROJECT 1305 and ‘push it up the Party ladders’.
It’s simply up to us. PROJECT 1305 is about our children, grandchildren and their children.
If WE don’t get OUR voices back?
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