Representativeness in Congress

In chapter 11, the bulk of the reading talks about key information on congress. Specifically how it works and the powers it has. As you probably already know, the framers gave congress the power to make laws. As said in Article 1, Section 1 of the constitution,”All legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” Since the framers had worried that the legislative branch could be too strong which then could possibly lead to a tyranny, they limited congressional powers by making congress a bicameral body. This bicameral body would be split into two chambers. The House of Representatives and the Senate.

Chapter 11 talks a lot about the House and Senate but the one thing that caught my eye was the representation of the two bodies. In other words, I found the demographics of the two chambers interesting. Both had lacked descriptive representation of the United States population tremendously. By looking at race, gender, and religion you can see that the numbers in congress do not correlate with the population.

Back in 2015, it was said that the 114th Congress was one of the most diverse in American history but that didn’t say much considering that there was still little diversity amongst the members in it. According to the Washington Post, 80 percent of the House was male and white. Also about 90 percent of the members were christian. The numbers were nearly the same in the Senate. Comparing the 114th congress to the 115th, the demographics changed but not by much. While looking at these statistics it made me think of the whole process of sample surveys and margin of error that we learned in the previous chapter. By looking at the members of congress one could see that the diverseness is not similar in comparison to the whole population of the United States. So if the representation of the congress is not accurate to the population, then how much of the public’s interests are being reflected? Is a large portion of the minorities interests being shoved aside and do the demographics of congress actually impact the process of lawmaking?

On November 7th of this year, Sheila Jackson Lee, an African American women proposed a bill based on the issues of gun safety. The bill would provide for a 7-day waiting period before a semiautomatic firearm, a silencer, armor piercing ammunition, or a large capacity ammunition magazine may be transferred. According to the Skopos Labs, there would be a one percent chance of it being enacted. This example shows that women would be more likely to take on the issue of gun control and since the majority of congress are white males, the result of a low chance of the bill being enacted would appear. Another bill similar to Jackson’s was also proposed by Dianne Feinstein, a white women. This bill proposed another regulation on assault weapons. This information could lead someone to believe that gender, race, and religion of the congress may be a factor in the process of lawmaking. Do you think gender, race and religion have an effect on the process of lawmaking?

6 Responses to "Representativeness in Congress"

Grant Golden says:

November 17, 2017 at 9:40 am

Colby, this is a very interesting topic you looked at and one that would be hard to come up with a solution for. In my opinion, this comes down to voter participation. As we all know, there is a lack of voter participation in our country and because of this, we get things such as this uneven representativeness in congress. To fix this, the simple answer is that we need more people in our country to vote. If more people vote, there is better chance of minorities getting elected and being in office. With this, there is a possibility for minority groups and our population being better represented therefore leading to kore issues being solved for our country as a whole. But, with that being said, this might not be a very big problem relatively speaking in terms of our political system. Even though congress is not heavily diverse, there are still a large number of people from minority groups that are voting to put these people in office that are there now. So there are still many of those people that feel like they are getting their views expressed through congress. The ones that are not are the ones that are choosing not to vote or be politically involved.
Brittney Morris says:

November 18, 2017 at 11:56 am

Colby, I think the topic you discussed is very interesting and raises a lot of good points. Congress does not mirror the population by any means. As you said it is predominately white males. I think looking into why that is would be very interesting. Could it be because of who votes or education or some other factors? I believe this issue needs explored further. I thought another point you raised was very interesting, but I do not necessarily agree with it. You said maybe women would be more likely to tackle the issue of gun control. I don’t know if that is true, I think there are just as many men who would be open to tackling the issue, however, there may be some other factor that is stopping them, such as reelection. Although I will agree, I think there is a large difference in the way men and women would make laws. There is not enough evidence to support that women would tackle more controversial issues, but it is something that could be looked at. I think it is important to have diversity in congress because our population is so diverse. Diversity in every aspect of life is key. It is impossible for white males to makes laws that represent the issues of every other gender, race, and religion. It could simply be because they just do not know. Having a diverse congress would allow for more groups to have their needs met and to share what they believe our country needs, rather than having a small group of like minded people creating all of our laws. So ultimately, yes I think gender, race, and religious could have a major effect on the process of law making. I think better, more well rounded laws would be produced, and overall everyone would be better off.
Alyssa Holt says:

November 19, 2017 at 1:37 pm

I do think that gender, race and religion have an impact on congress and the process of lawmaking. As we have discussed in class these traits can lead to group consciousness which ultimately creates favoritism and protection the for demographics that are represented in congress. What I think is interesting though, is the response many officials have had after the 2016 election. A fair amount of politicians have begun to shape their campaigns, for positions at all levels of government, as a resistance to Trump. These platforms revolve around protection of the minorities and groups that Trump has openly rejected. While this is not the ideal solution that leads to a government that accurately and fairly represents the population, it is a step towards more thoughtful, thorough representation. Many of these officials are still white men however their public promise to protect the minorities and the public support shown for these candidates seen in recent elections could be a step in the right direction.
Lauren Rothenberg says:

November 19, 2017 at 8:42 pm

Colby, I also agree that the unequal representation that is evidenced in our democracy poses a large threat to the functionality and success of our government body. Having said this, it definitely is difficult to conjure up a logical yet plausible solution to solve this issue. I do believe that gender, race and religion have an effect on the process of lawmaking, as you somewhat supported through the use of statistics. Furthermore, as we discussed in class, women are more likely to be democratic, therefore we know that gender plays an important part. Therefore, it is logical to assume that other demographical factors have a similar influence in our democracy. Especially considering the underlying premise set by our founders of popular sovereignty and the role it plays in the success of the democracy, these factors are extremely prominent and also fundamentally paramount. Because of its importance if there is not political equality and equal representation our government will not stand a chance to serve the public in a beneficial manner.
Seyoum Settepani says:

November 20, 2017 at 11:02 am

Colby this issue that you are bringing up is so important because of the fact race and gender are not being represented equally in congress. this is not only a dilemma because it is not fair, I believe the more prevalent issue is the one that the people that are making the laws and constructing policies are not being taken as seriously as their white male counterpart. The only way to fix this dilemma in my opinion is for us as citizens to elect open minded officials. It is a process that start the bottom up to be more clear drastic changes will need to be introduced in order to fix this issue.
Emily Dunbar says:

November 28, 2017 at 9:22 pm

You have brought up many important issues that needs to be addressed. If our representatives are nothing like us or have none of the same ideals as us then are we really being represented? This is an issue that needs to be addressed, Congress needs to become more diverse and the fact that Congress is presented as being so diverse until you look at the facts. The facts are disgraceful, showing that they do not want Congress to become more diverse. Those in Congress want to make sure that their views are not hindered by bringing in a more diverse group. Congress was intended by the Founders to represent the whole population, not just wealthy white men. This was the whole point of Congress to ensure everyone is equal in the eyes of the government. The fact that they stray from this ideal shows that change is needed to bring about equality. Equality is the goal of the government or it should be. In order for them to reach this goal, Congress must become more diverse in order to represent everyone in the country.

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