The Evening Post and Mail

The Evening Post and Mail

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
More members, fewer problems?
User's avatar
Discover more from The Evening Post and Mail
The digital evening newspaper editorial of the Great Midwest. Committed to being thought-provoking, not mindlessly provocative.
Already have an account? Sign in

More members, fewer problems?

On airline seats, government shutdowns, and why now would be a good time to talk about expanding the House

Brian Gongol's avatar
Brian Gongol
Dec 21, 2024
1

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
More members, fewer problems?
Share

The chaotic race to hold off a government shutdown ought to serve as a spur for the public to demand something that might seem contrary: To demand an expansion of the House of Representatives.

â–  The reflexive response goes something like, "Why should we pay for more politicians when we don't like the ones we already have?". But the problem we need to solve is that as House districts grow ever larger by population (remember, we've been fixed at 435 seats in the House for a century, despite enormous population growth since then), the costs of getting elected (and re-elected) have risen. Those costs are both direct (as in the cost of campaign ads) and implied (since any individual incumbent feels greater pressure not to endanger their own re-election by taking chances).

Thanks for reading The Evening Post and Mail! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

â–  Is there room to do it? Yes, we could make space within the existing chamber to fit a lot more Representatives. (If airlines can squeeze passengers into ever-smaller seats, surely we can pack a few more elected officials into a room for debate.) And the additional support staff required could fit into some new buildings, if we were to be smart about it.

â–  Among many arguments for making the House bigger -- among them, making the Electoral College more proportional without tweaking the Constitution -- one we shouldn't overlook is the value of getting a variety of new perspectives and sources of expertise into the room. We have a lot of lawyers (30% of Representatives have law degrees) but not a lot of people with more varied backgrounds, like auto-repair shop owners and psychologists.

â–  In a world marked by increasing complexity, a dose of multidisciplinarity among the voting members would make Congress better. Change is unlikely, of course, unless and until the members see it in their own self-interest to expand the House. But it's worth pressing the issue from the outside, since our frustrations are often more systematic than not.

Thanks for reading The Evening Post and Mail! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Joe Kristan's avatar
1 Like
1

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
More members, fewer problems?
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Expand the House
On Calvin Coolidge, orderly debate, and the need to expand the House in order to dilute the power of the cranks
Jan 9, 2023 â€¢ 
Brian Gongol
2

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Expand the House
Load balancing our cities
On macroeconomic forces, the original EPCOT vision, and what to do with America's fastest-shrinking counties
Apr 11, 2023 â€¢ 
Brian Gongol

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Load balancing our cities
Art is better than cigarettes
On $5 slots in Vegas, the library in Sheboygan, and vending machines for high culture
Apr 28, 2023 â€¢ 
Brian Gongol
2

Share this post

The Evening Post and Mail
The Evening Post and Mail
Art is better than cigarettes

Ready for more?

© 2025 Brian Gongol
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.