The Best of All Possible Americas

Marty Kaplan
HuffPost

Whenever I'm comforted by the genius of our Founders, the resilience of our institutions and the wisdom of the American people, I know my meds need adjusting.

James Madison famously explained in Federalist 51 that because men by nature are not angels, the Constitution distributes power among the branches and levels of government via the ingenious checks and balances that protect individuals from the tyranny of despots and the injustice of majorities.

Unfortunately, this gives equal power to states containing a few hundred thousand people and states containing tens of million of people. A Wyoming voter has about 70 times the Senate clout as a California voter. The 21 smallest states put together have fewer people than California, but their 42 senators, representing something like 12 percent of the nation's population, can stop anything in its tracks.

The Constitution doesn't spell out the Senate's rules, but it does give the Senate the power to set its own rules, which include the 60 votes needed to shut off a filibuster, which in turn gives Republicans veto power over energy, climate change, immigration and pretty much anything else that could be counted a success for the president.

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