Rural Americans Are the 'Core Threat' to Democracy According to MSNBC's Joy Reid

MSNBC host Joy Reid said Saturday that rural Americans pose a “core threat” to democracy due to their “disproportionate power over the urban majority.”

This is the core threat to our democracy. The rural minority — the people @JYSexton just wrote a long thread about — have and will continue to have disproportionate power over the urban majority. https://t.co/fzBHaZ9kzR

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 26, 2017

“This is the core threat to our democracy. The rural minority — the people @JYSexton just wrote a long thread about — have and will continue to have disproportionate power over the urban majority,” Reid wrote on Twitter.

Reid’s statement came in response to an analysis by David Birdsell, a dean at Baruch College, who told the Wall Street Journal that small states would have a disproportionate amount of power in the Senate by 2040.

“By 2040, about 70% of Americans are expected to live in the 15 largest states. They will have only 30 senators representing them, while the remaining 30% of Americans will have 70 senators representing them,” the WSJ reported.

By 2040, about 70% of Americans are expected to live in the 15 largest states. They will have only 30 senators representing them, while the remaining 30% of Americans will have 70 senators representing them. https://t.co/f1SibnIGHv

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 25, 2017

One user questioned Reid’s assertion that smaller states with rural populations pose a “core threat” to democracy, noting that while smaller states would hold the lead in the Senate, larger states would have greater influence in the House of Representatives, where each state is assigned seats in proportion to its population.

a threat? huh? 70% would have house & 30% the senate – this is by design (see federalist papers) to prevent a majority taking total power. the minority can be out of power but not w/o a voice – that is our republican system working. am I missing something @JoyAnnReid? https://t.co/81EFjvzS2p

— Brian Hare (@bharedogguy) November 26, 2017

Reid ignored the user’s valid point.

Yes you are. Your first problem is one of reading comprehension. The stat is that the 30 percent would have 70 Senators, meaning lopsided minority rule. This is inherently undemocratic and incentivizes that minority to undermine democratic noms to preserve their power. https://t.co/nuHKURnG5A

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 26, 2017

Reid exposed that her core problem is one of ignorance.

The issue of fair representation from small states versus big states was one that was solved over 230 years ago during the Constitutional Convention when Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth reached an agreement which is now known as the Great Compromise.

In the seven weeks prior to the Great Compromise, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention appeared to be at their wit’s end because they couldn’t work out an agreement to appease both small and large states regarding fair representation in Congress.

Delegates from large states demanded more representation in Congress because their populations contributed more to the nation financially and defensively.

But delegates from small states, who felt threatened by the possibility of tyranny by the majority, demanded equal representation in Congress regardless of population size.

So, Sherman and Ellsworth proposed a dual system of congressional representation, where the House of Representatives represented the people and the Senate represented the states.

This is why each state is assigned a number of seats in the House of Representatives based in proportion to its population, and every state is assigned the two seats in the Senate.

Individual state legislatures used to elect their own senators to represent their state prior to 1913, when the 17th Amendment established the popular election of senators.

The delegates of the constitution recognized that larger states contributed more financially to the nation than smaller states, which is why Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution states: “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”

Reid’s statement that rural voters pose a “core threat” to American democracy further exposes her ignorance, as the U.S. is not a democracy — it’s a republic.

Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution states: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.”

The founders minced no words when it came to their feelings about pure democracy.

“Remember, democracy never lasts long,” President John Adams once said. “It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

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