United States Parliament Size?

[Gass3268]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but if the United States were to have a Parliamentary system how many seats do you think it should have? I personally feel that the current House of Representatives size of 435 would be too small of a number. While having a seat for every 97,203 like the UK, would result in 3,249 seats, which would be way to big. My thought would between 1,000 and 1,500. Anybody else have thoughts on this? 

[Torie]

399 members (or 401 members). The Brit parliament has way too many folks. It's unwieldy.

[politicus]

I don't think there are any examples of a parliament with more than 500 members actually working properly (incl. HoC). One for every million inhabitants would be a sound principle and allow you to increase it without getting to an unmanageable number.

[Benj]

I don't think there are any examples of a parliament with more than 500 members actually working properly (incl. HoC). One for every million inhabitants would be a sound principle and allow you to increase it without getting to an unmanageable number.

There are only two elected legislative bodies in the entire world with more than 500 members (the Lok Sabha and the House of Commons), so you're not exactly using a large sample size. Edit: Oh, and the EU Parliament, I suppose, but that's really a totally different animal.

Small legislatures (relative to population) are fine if you're using national proportional representation, but they're seriously problematic when you elect by districts.

[Gass3268]

There is also the cube root theory that says that the perfect size is the cub root of the population is the best way to determine the numbers of seats in the legislature. The cub root of the United States is rounded to 681. 

[Benj]

There is also the cube root theory that says that the perfect size is the cub root of the population is the best way to determine the numbers of seats in the legislature. The cub root of the United States is rounded to 681.  

The cube root rule is not (or should not be) normative. It says nothing about what the "ideal" size of a legislature is. Rather, it observes that the legislatures of the world's democratic countries cluster remarkably close to the cube root of their respective populations.

[Bacon King]

There is also the cube root theory that says that the perfect size is the cub root of the population is the best way to determine the numbers of seats in the legislature. The cub root of the United States is rounded to 681. 

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=165934.0

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

There is also the cube root theory that says that the perfect size is the cub root of the population is the best way to determine the numbers of seats in the legislature. The cub root of the United States is rounded to 681.  

The cube root rule is not (or should not be) normative. It says nothing about what the "ideal" size of a legislature is. Rather, it observes that the legislatures of the world's democratic countries cluster remarkably close to the cube root of their respective populations.

It's not based merely on observation.  Smaller bodies are both more deliberative and decisive.  Larger bodies allow for members to represent smaller and more coherent districts.  A power rule of some form is one way to get that, with the power ¹/₃ being a matter of observation.

[Benj]

There is also the cube root theory that says that the perfect size is the cub root of the population is the best way to determine the numbers of seats in the legislature. The cub root of the United States is rounded to 681.  

The cube root rule is not (or should not be) normative. It says nothing about what the "ideal" size of a legislature is. Rather, it observes that the legislatures of the world's democratic countries cluster remarkably close to the cube root of their respective populations.

It's not based merely on observation.  Smaller bodies are both more deliberative and decisive.  Larger bodies allow for members to represent smaller and more coherent districts.  A power rule of some form is one way to get that, with the power ¹/₃ being a matter of observation.

Okay. That doesn't contradict anything I said. The cube root rule is just observing that we actually happen to cluster around the cube root of the population. Yes, there is possibly some ideal proportion to the population, but the mere fact that we tend to cluster around the cube root says nothing about whether the cube root is actually superior to some other proportion.

[Gass3268]

Thanks Bacon!

[Horus]

1,001 always made sense to me. But in honor of Herman Cain maybe 999 would be more suitable.

[Smid]

1,001 always made sense to me. But in honor of Herman Cain maybe 999 would be more suitable.

He only goes by "Herman Cain" amongst his friends. That would be "Chancellor of the Exchequor Cain" to you...

[Padfoot]

The bare minimum number of seats should be equal to the population of the 50 states divided by the population of the smallest state.  Based on the 2010 Census that puts you at a minimum of 547 seats.

[Del Tachi]

Keep the 435 Congressional districts elected by FPTP and then add 100-200 "at-large" seats elected by PR.  This brings the total to somewhere around 600 seats, a pretty workable number (especially if your neuter the Senate). 

[Antonio the Sixth]

Ideally 1000, realistically the cube root rule (600some).

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't think there are any examples of a parliament with more than 500 members actually working properly

Define "working properly".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembl%C3%A9e_Nationale

[morgieb]

Cube root rule, or Padfoot's suggestion.

[afleitch]

It's worth noting that the Indian Parliament which represents the world's largest democracy with some 710 million registered voters has 790 MP's. Either the cuberoot rule or padfoots suggestions makes sense. As of 2010 that's Wyoming with 563,626. You then use the harmonic mean to calculate entitlement for each state (like in England and Wales) You could use registered voters, but that in the USA is far more fluctuating due to the system of voter registration.

[Dr. Cynic]

No more than 500.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Cube root rule would be a great idea. Which means the law mandating that there's 435 house seats has to meet a rather awesome and destructive end.