r/politics • u/sweatycat New York • 1d ago

California to Negotiate Trade With Other Countries to Bypass Trump Tariffs

https://www.newsweek.com/california-newsom-trade-trump-tariffs-2055414
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u/myadsound California 1d ago

CA is always the one leading

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u/pomonamike California 1d ago

It’s kinda crazy that we are a second-level political division when by ourselves we would be one of the economically biggest nations on the planet.

It really doesn’t make practical sense when we have to bend the knee to certain senators that were voted in by fewer people than live in say… Riverside.

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u/AndyVale 1d ago edited 1d ago

I remember discussing this with an American acquaintance saying I didn't get the electoral college. For many millions of Californians their vote is worth less than someone in one of the smaller states.

He retorted "so the farmers in Wyoming shouldn't be listened to over the liberal techies in California?"

Because I had recently read some stuff on the topic, I pointed out that California actually has an enormous amount of agricultural workers. I couldn't remember the exact stats but it was a sizeable amount.

They immediately pivoted to that being why Californians' vote shouldn't count as much, because they didn't understand as much about other issues.

You can't win when somebody makes up the rules as they go along 🤷‍♂️

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u/wanderlustcub I voted 18h ago

The reason the Senate is how it is - 2 senators for each state - is because the original intention of the Senate was to represent each State’s Government in Congress.

House - people representation senate - state representation

This meant that each state was “equal” in the Senate because they were each an individual unit.

The 17th Amendment changed that. This was because states started using Senate Appointments strategically to prevent one party or the other to gain majority. Delaware went without a Senator for two years to prevent a party to keep majority. State party machines were major players in the corruption in Congress in the late 1800’s.

The Amendment change the way senators were elected. Now it’s direction election by the populace, and that is when we see people losing their vote value.

This also doesn’t touch gerrymandering and the Congressional reapportionment Act of 1929 embedding inequality in the House.

This is just for reference and I don’t defend it, just give context. I do feel the current system is broken and something needs to change.