Legislative The Branch
1. Representation: giving voice to viewpoints in society.
2. Lawmaking: finding agreement on new laws and the budget.
There is a tradeoff between these two goals.
Who should represent us?
Descriptive Representation: A legislature should look like America.
Focus on characteristics that divide us like race, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation.
Example: Norway requires an equal number of male and female candidates.
Criticism: external characteristic do no always correspond individual beliefs.
Who should represent us?
Substantive representation: A legislature that thinks like America.
Re-create the range and depth of opinion among citizen instead the legislature.
Criticism: A legislature that has diversity viewpoints but lacks diversity could lack
legitimacy with citizens.
How should they represent us?
Trustee Representation: Elect an intelligent and trustworthy person to speak for you.
Elect a Mind to Office
Problem: What if they reach a different conclusion that you would.
How should they Represent Us?
Delegate Representation: Elect a person who will vote exactly like you would.
Elect a Mirror to Office!
Problem: Sometimes issues arise suddenly without time for an election.
Which theory best explains reality?
Politico representation---depends on salience.
High salience usually delegate behavior
Low salience usually Trustee behavior.
Geographical Representation
US Changed House wit Population
Adjusting the US House
Census: counting residents every 10 years.
Re-apportionment: re-allocating House seats by population.
Re-districting: re-drawing district lines within a state to reflect population changes.
Grew from 105 members in 1791 to 435 in 1911----remains at 435 to this day.
Every time a state gains a House seat, another state loss a seat.
US House
Georgia is growing faster that US average
1980:10 House seats
1990:11 House seats
2000:13 House seats
2010:14 House seats (estimate)
Large and small (Not going to be test )
The smallest state receive 1 House seats (Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Delaware,
Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota)
The largest state (California receives 53 House seats)
1790: average population 30,000 per district
2000: average population 650,000 per district.
Gerrymandering
Drawing lines to suppress the voting strength of a rival political party.
Packing your opponents in few districts.
Splitting up your opponents to weaken their strength.
Racial Gerrymandering
Majority- Minority Districts
Renewal of Voting Rights Act in 1980s mandated that future redistricting not dilute
minority voting strength.
1990s saw a major increase in number of Latinos and African- Americans in US House.
Why no law for women?
Why no major change in US Senate.
Latino Majority IL-04 District
Party Polarization- One Dimension
Presidential Success in Congress