Submitted by Joe Jervis of The Daily Bell
“No taxation without representation!”
That was a popular phrase during the decades leading up to the Revolutionary War. Colonists thought it was unfair to be taxed and subjected to English rule without consent.
Today Washington DC hands down laws and taxes to every one of the 320 million people living in the United States.
And just like under English rule, we are not represented in the federal government.
Now I know what you’re thinking… we have the right to vote for our leaders.
Our votes send Representatives, Senators, and the President to Washington DC. And they represent our interests in government.
US Representatives are elected by the people, split up into districts.
They go to Washington DC and make up the House of Representatives; one half of Congress.
Congress is the entire legislative branch. They write and pass all the laws in the USA.
When America was brand new, each Representative came from a district of about 40,000 people.
But as the US population grew, the number of Reps in Congress was limited to just 435. That meant the number of citizens each member represented grew as well…
Today, Representatives are elected by districts averaging about 713,000 people.
That means our votes for US Representative are about 6% as potent as they were when America was founded.
(I’m going by total population and not by voting population to keep it simple. But the same lesson applies if you do the math based on voting population.)
Our representation in the House of Representatives has been diluted by a factor of 17.
The US Senate makes up the other half of Congress.
Senators are elected by the entire population of each state, with a simple majority-wins vote.
But it wasn’t supposed to be like that.
Until 1913, Senators were elected by each state legislature.
Every state has its own Congress, mirroring the US system. You vote for state Representatives and state Senators and they run the state government.
It was the folks running your state government that once elected US Senators to send to Washington DC. This gave state governments representation in Washington DC.
So the citizens controlled the US House of Representatives by directly voting for who would represent them from their district.
And state governments controlled the US Senate by the state legislatures voting for who would represent the state in the federal government.
Of course, the people still elected the state Senators and state Reps who then elected US Senators.
But in 1913, the 17th Amendment allowed popular vote in each state to elect US Senators. So it became a state-wide race, just like Governor.
Sounds like this gives the people more voice in the federal government… but it actually gave us way WAY less of a say.
Let’s use Louisiana as an example…
By population size, Lousiana is the median state. Half of the states have a larger population, and half the states have a smaller population. Lousiana is smack dab in the middle.
Louisiana has a total of 105 state Representatives. Each state Rep is elected by a district of about 45,000 people.
39 state Senators are elected by districts of about 120,000 people each.
The entire population of Louisiana is about 4.7 million.
So in a statewide race for US Senator, your vote is just one out of 4,700,000.
Your vote is 105 times more powerful in a state Representative race (1/45,000 vs. 1/4,700,000).
It counts 105x more than your vote for US Senator.
Your vote is 39 times as potent in a state Senate race (1/120,000 vs. 1/4,700,000).
It matters 39x more than your vote for US Senator.
But imagine if the state Reps still chose the US Senator…
He or she has 1 vote out of 105 total Reps.
And your state Senator’s vote accounts for 1 out of 39 total Senators.
Remember, your vote for state Rep and state Senate actually matter… in these small districts you have 105x and 39x more power than in a state-wide race.
So compared to the US Senate race, your vote has a MUCH higher probability of influencing 2 seats out of the 144 member legislature (39 Senators + 105 Reps).
If both your choices get elected, you have chosen 1.4% of the state legislators who will choose your US Senator.
But your vote for US Senate in the state-wide race gives you just .00002% say in who gets elected US Senator.
If both your choices for state Rep and state Senate get elected, you have 70,000 times more control over who gets elected US Senator.
But what if neither of your choices for state Rep and Senate gets elected?
It means you have 0% say in who gets elected US Senator…
Which is statistically equal to your .00002% say you have right now.
So the worst possible scenario in the old system is statistically the same as the only scenario in the current system.
You have a 100% chance of having no voice in the current system.
But when state legislators elected US Senators, you had a much better shot at having some voice in the decision. And when you got that voice, it counted for so much more.
1913 was a bad year…
- The Federal Reserve system was implemented, cementing centralized federal control over the banking and monetary system…
- The 16th Amendment allowed the federal government to collect income taxes, ensuring a steady supply of big government funding…
- The 17th Amendment took control of the Senate away from state governments.
You could say it was the beginning of a new United States of America… which hardly resembled the old structure.
It was the beginning of taxation without representation… The complete reversal of everything Americans fought for and achieved during the American Revolution.
It began the era of the American Empire. A centralized government, large enough to do whatever it wanted without restraint.
Too large for the people to control through representative democracy.
We still have a chance to be represented in state governments. But secession is a topic for another day…
You don’t have to play by the rules of the corrupt politicians, manipulative media, and brainwashed peers.
Secession.
Precisely.
Vote, my ass.
I’ve long maintained and strongly believe that the only hope for those of us born into this slavery lies in secession down to the smallest possible entity, and that based on a free market foundation and voluntary participation.
Any other solution that even remotely relies on coercion or force to compel submission is immoral and an affront to Natural law and the sovereignty of the individual.
I may not be as decent as some others, nonetheless I’m still ashamed to live under this government.
Precisely.
Useful Idiot demographics will decide future elections. Conservative Whites and Asians have been screwed by liberals out of a voice.
This is an excellent article which I agree except for the time line. The beginning of the end started with the 14th amendment which pretty much nullified the 10th.
The 14th turned us into a nation, rather than a union of states which is what our founding fathers say they intended. (Sometimes I wonder about the veracity of that belief due to some major errors – like no term limits and the leniency given to the judiciary branch.)
But the 17th was the nail in the coffin. Furthermore, if you read the history of those amendments that were added in 1913 you will have more questions than answers. There certainly appear to have been some shenanigans afoot.
I see nothing good for the future of the country.
The 14th amendment, referred to as one of the amendments that freed the slaves, over time with judicial interpretations is the amendment that corporations have argued and used to be considered individuals in the eyes of the law, the term CITIZEN, I would argue, created your STRAWMAN in all capital letters that interacts with this admiralty/maritime system we have been unwittingly signed into with our “birth” certificates…
The same type of birth referred to with newly christined maritime vessels being birthed to sea.
A far cry from a natural person and God given natural rights that each of us physically are endowed with from birth, if you believe John Locke and the writers of the U.S. Constitution.
Yellow fringed flags an Uniformed Commercial code = admiralty jurisdiction….
An astute observer might begin to question the dual systems running simultaneously and ask the question:
What does the Law of the High seas have to do with “JOHN Q PUBLIC”?
What a load of shit re his commentary on voting numbers and representation. I will not go into all the falsehoods, except to say this:
At least by direct election of US Senators, you get to vote for the man. Previously, you voted for the man that voted for the man. Each step further away from your rep, the more opportunity for corruption. Anyone who thinks reps are there to do what you want them to do is insane.
I am a damn math savant, you fuckwits. I can smell math bullshit through five feet of sealed concrete. I can glance at financial statements and tell whether they are rigged or not. You fucking downvoting dolts could not count to twenty one without unzipping your damn flies. I was better at math when I was 7 than you cretins have ever been. I made a fucking accountant cry like a little bitch when I was in third grade by solving an advanced problem in five minutes that the fucking accountant took three hours to crack. His daughter never spoke to me again.
And I am telling you the fucking numbers this fuckwit has put together show the guy to be an A grade dimwit. Maybe you downvoting pricks are related?
Admin needs to institute an IQ test before letting neanderthals have access to the vote buttons.,
Oh come on Pooh. If you are a math savant then you should be able to just point out where his math is flawed. It doesn’t change anybodies mind to thump your skinny chest and call them names. Show them where the premise goes astray. How does the saying go? Why blind them with brilliance when you can baffle them with bullshit? So far you have offered only bullshit. How about some brilliance.
BTW, I agree that his premise is flawed.
Hollywood – I could indeed do that. But then how would these ignorami learn anything? They need to learn this shit for themselves instead of being spoon fed by their betters. The mere fact that I have called bullshit should be sufficient enoug for folks that know me to dig a bit deeper for themselves. The others, dullards that they are, would not be able to understand the explanation in any event, and so just deserve being tormented.
I am glad you see through his smoke and mirrors.
Americans hate freedom with a passion.
Americans will vehemently attack anyone who dares criticize their beloved government overlords by shouting “fake news!” or calling patriots spammers, trolls, shills, bots, racists, junkies, retards, nutjobs, pedophiles, hippies, foreigners, terrorists, faggots, fatties, CIA employees, traitors, Communists, or Fascists and demanding that the truth-tellers be censored, banned, get IRS audits, be arrested, or be killed.
Libertarians will be told that they are not Libertarians and promoting liberty means that they are irrelevant.
The USA deserves everything coming to it.
The flaws designed and installed into our once Constitutional Republic Of Independent States has been chewing on the road kill of American citizens for over 100 years . We now have such a huge dependent class of individuals that the theft by government entities must not only continue but increase in debth and width till the parasitic groups have consumed it all .
The so called elected representitives are bought and paid for and they , you know the “THEY” employ badge wearing just doing my job minions ready and willing to crush your face bankrupt you and put you in the street so “THEY” can retire with 20 to 30 and out in their early to late 50’s .
The game is rigged now the party is over ! Don’t believe it tell your state and local reps you can’t pay the property tax on what you thought you own because you want the heat on this winter and be able to eat tonight . If your vote counted “THEY” would not allow it .
Remember your government and all that survive on its largess do not give a fuck about you except for the wealth “THEY” can extract from you . Once you reach the low productivity times of your life “THEY” evict you or if your lucky comfortably die out of their view !
To them you are no more valuable than a Dixie cup , use up throw away !
“Congress is the entire legislative branch. They write and pass all the laws in the USA.”
Hmmm……….. NO.
K street lobbyists and corporations write the laws. Their bought and paid for shills in CONgress pass them on a quid pro quo basis.
1913 the year the Fed was created was the final nail in the coffin for the peoples vote as if .gov hasn’t done whatever the hell it wanted anyway.
Bat G you got it , I call it the circle jerk of Wall Street to K-Street to Capitol Street the real owners and controllers of america
1913 was the year the US Citizens lost their freedom. We are now just subjects of a tyranical government.