Quantcast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3572

How To Identify The Despotic Minority - 13

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Back in the USSR
I. Background

This Dredd Blog series has been pointing out the history of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority that has brought down over twenty civilizations down through time.

The information comes from Encyclopedia Britannica and historian Arnold Toynbee (How To Identify The Despotic Minority23456789101112).

One factor that has been focused on is "tyranny" which is another word for "cruelty."

As it turns out, perhaps one of the least expected sources of cruelty being revealed is a religious source not at all associated with terrorism (Atlantic, RawStory).

In today's post I want to point out that the American government as set up by the U.S. Constitution is not fail safe, because it has some serious undemocratic aspects to it that at this point in our nation's history is unlikely to be remedied.

II. A Predicament

According the the last census of 2010, the 22 "Red States" that are home to a lot of current right wing religion and politics, as shown by the table below, make up only 31.42% of the population of the 50 states.

Yet they are given two senators each, totaling 44% of the U.S. Senate:

Red StatesPopulation
Rank
Population
Census 2010
Population
Percent
Senate
Percent
Wyoming500.563626 mil0.172
Alaska480.710231 mil0.394
North Dakota470.672591 mil0.626
South Dakota460.81418 mil0.898
Montana430.989415 mil1.21%10%
Idaho391.56758 mil1.7412
West Virginia381.85299 mil2.2914
Nebraska371.82634 mil2.8716
Kansas352.85312 mil3.7518
Mississippi342.9673 mil4.65%20%
Arkansas332.91592 mil5.5622
Utah302.76389 mil6.5224
Oklahoma283.75135 mil7.7126
Kentucky264.33937 mil9.0628
Louisiana254.53337 mil10.47%30%
Alabama244.77974 mil11.9532
South Carolina234.62536 mil13.4934
Missouri185.98893 mil15.3436
Tennessee166.3461 mil17.3938
Arizona146.39202 mil19.56%40%
Georgia89.68765 mil22.7442
Texas225.1456 mil31.42%44%
Total 96.0866 mil

III. Another Predicament

Now, let's look at the whole population, all states, and the entire population so as to see that a remedy is not within our grasp at this time.

The graph below shows that 1.08% of the population elects 10% of the senate, 2.82% of the population elects 20% of the senate, 5.54% of the population elects 30% of the senate, 10.1% of the population elects 40% of the senate, 15.95% of the population elects 50% of the senate, 23.8% of the population elects 60% of the senate, and 33.31% of the population elects 70% of the senate (and so forth):

State
(R=Red State)
Population
Rank
Population
Census 2010
Population
Percent
Senate
Percent
Wyoming (R)500.563626 mil0.172
Vermont490.625741 mil0.364
Alaska (R)480.710231 mil0.586
North Dakota (R)470.672591 mil0.818
South Dakota (R)460.81418 mil1.08%10%
Delaware450.897934 mil1.3712
Rhode Island441.05257 mil1.6914
Montana (R)430.989415 mil2.0116
Maine421.32836 mil2.4118
New Hampshire411.31647 mil2.82%20%
Hawaii401.3603 mil3.2522
Idaho (R)391.56758 mil3.7824
West Virginia (R)381.85299 mil4.3326
Nebraska (R)371.82634 mil4.9128
New Mexico362.05918 mil5.54%30%
Kansas (R)352.85312 mil6.4232
Mississippi (R)342.9673 mil7.3234
Arkansas (R)332.91592 mil8.2336
Nevada322.70055 mil9.1538
Iowa313.04636 mil10.1%40%
Utah (R)302.76389 mil11.0642
Connecticut293.5741 mil12.1444
Oklahoma (R)283.75135 mil13.3346
Oregon273.83107 mil14.648
Kentucky (R)264.33937 mil15.95%50%
Louisiana (R)254.53337 mil17.3652
Alabama (R)244.77974 mil18.8454
South Carolina (R)234.62536 mil20.3856
Minnesota225.30392 mil22.0858
Colorado215.0292 mil23.8%60%
Wisconsin205.68699 mil25.5662
Maryland195.77355 mil27.3964
Missouri (R)185.98893 mil29.2466
Indiana176.4838 mil31.2668
Tennessee (R)166.3461 mil33.31%70%
Massachusetts156.54763 mil35.472
Arizona (R)146.39202 mil37.5774
Washington136.72454 mil39.8576
Virginia128.00102 mil42.4378
New Jersey118.79189 mil45.12%80%
Michigan109.88364 mil48.1482
North Carolina99.53548 mil51.2884
Georgia (R)89.68765 mil54.4686
Ohio711.5365 mil57.9988
Illinois612.8306 mil61.84%90%
Pennsylvania512.7024 mil65.7192
New York419.3781 mil71.6294
Florida318.8013 mil78.0696
Texas (R)225.1456 mil86.7498
California137.2545 mil98.7%100%
USA308.144 mil

Of course that assumes that every one of those members of the population votes (see how optimistic I am sometimes).

The point I am making is that this is not the definition of a democracy in the pure, functional sense: "government by the people; especially : rule of the majority" (Dictionary).

The population in a state with 500,000 people gets the same number of senators as a state with 40,000,000 people.

This means that the low population states can more easily control the senate, and thus the cabinets and the courts (Here Come De Conservative Judges234567).

And as goes the Supremes, so goes the nation ("the constitution says what the Supreme Court says it says").

The Senate decides who can go on the Supreme Court, and who cannot.

See the problem?

IV. Closing Comments

The tyranny of the despotic minority is here, and the odds are that it is here to stay?

The previous post in this series is here.

Ode to The Rus People:




Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3572

Trending Articles