Reining in the U.S. House of Representatives

___The Constitution sets a limit on the number of Representatives in Congress to 1 per 30,000 citizens. The House has limited the number to 435 plus 3 for the District of Columbia. Many Americans want to limit the terms of those in Congress – usually to 12 years. This requires amending the Constitution – a difficult process requiring 2/3 of Congress or 2/3 of state legislators to pass an amendment and ¾ of the states to ratify it. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so Congress has no desire to term limit themselves, and state legislators are afraid that term limits will spread to states.

___Like the Luddites, there are many Americans who fear or distrust technology. The America of 2017 is profoundly different than the America of 1787 as far as technology. A Representative does not need to leave his/her home district in order to completely fulfill the duties as a member of the House of Representatives. There may be a few face-to-face meetings necessary for extreme secrecy, but those would be few in number. Votes could be secure followed by confirmation for additional security.

___When I proposed this idea in a LTE, I was accused of wanting to increase the size of government. Anyone who knows me as a Constitutional conservative would see that criticism as profoundly ignorant. My Congressman represents over 700,000 and has three offices each with staffs (about 17 total) paid as federal employees. My idea would be one office in the district with a staff of 2 or three at the most. Assuming 1305 Representatives with staffs of 3 each, that is 5,220 employees. With 435 Representatives with staffs of 12 each, that is 5,655 employees. That is fewer federal employees and one rented office rather than four. Since each Representative would live and work in his/her district, citizens could more easily hold them accountable.

___Assuming a $4 trillion spending year, each Representative's share is currently about $9 billion. With 3 times as many Representatives this share of “power” drops to about $3 billion. With 10 times as many Representatives this share of “power” drops to about $920 million. This dilution of power and increase in accountability works like term limits, but it does not require amending the Constitution.