Your Slice Of The Pie Is Getting Smaller

“The more things change, the more they remain same,” goes the adage. And while there’s some degree of comfort in knowing that your socks and underwear will be in the same drawer as yesterday, the week and month before, there’s still a burning question, or two: Are you still going to wear the same old ratty, tattered old underwear that you have for the last 10, or 20 years or more?

If that doesn’t sound like you, you’re in luck.

BUT!

If it does sound like you… well, you’re like the Congress.

Our United States Constitution sets forth a representative form of government in which The People choose Representatives for themselves to represent their interests in a common gathering place called “the Capitol building” in Washington, D.C. And according to that constitution, and other relevant laws, The The People are to have our interests represented according to a formula, of sorts, which determines how many Representatives we should have. That process is called “apportionment,” and refers to the number of Members of the House of Representatives are to be apportioned among The People.

When our Constitution was first written, the Founders… well, read it for yourself.

Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution:

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. …”

There you have it.

“The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative…”

When our Constitution was first written, there was a ratio, of sorts, established to guide the number of Representatives in the House. And, it was 30,000. Since then, it’s been changed, and in fact, it was supposed to be changed every 10 years, which is the entire and exclusive purpose of the Constitution – to determine how many Representatives we should have.

But, along about 1911, the year immediately after the 1910 Census, something happened.

Congress gave America an abortion.

I use that word “abortion” purposely, because that describes to a “T” the essence of what happened.

Allow me to explain further.

In 1911, for some still as-yet-unknown reason, when Congress took up the matter of

America! You’re GROWING!!! GET COUNTED! Because SIZE MATTERS!

Here are a few factoids for your entertainment.

• There are SO FEW people in Wyoming, that they have enough room on their automobile license plates to depict a cowboy on a bucking bronco… and STILL have plenty of room leftover for numbers & letters for EVERY car in the state.

• There are MORE people in Nashville, TN (669,053) than there are in Wyoming (578,759).

• There are MORE people in Tennessee (6,829,174) than there are in Colorado (5,758,736).

• The TOTAL number of students (13,131), faculty, and staff (9,253) at Vanderbilt University, and employees at the now-independent University Medical Center (24,039) totals 46,423, which, in effect, makes it a city unto itself, and is why the University (and MC) have the state’s ONLY state-certified police force, with full authority to perform EVERY law enforcement function of the state. They’re also voluntarily, and fully accredited by three law enforcement accrediting bodies, one international, one national, one state:

• CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies)
• IACLEA (International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators)
• TLEA (Tennessee Law Enforcement Accreditation)

Here’s a factoid sheet on VUMC (Vanderbilt University Medical Center).

Speaking of size (because, yeah… size matters!), we’re growing! And by “we” I mean to refer to the United States.

For example, did you know that: → Population Rank

• Denver’s population is 716,492. → 19

• Atlanta, GA’s population is 498,044. → 37
(And was once called the “New York” of the South.)

• Jacksonville, FL = 903,889 → 12
• Fort Worth, TX = 895,008 → 13
• Columbus, OH = 892,533 → 14
• San Francisco, CA = 883,305 → 15
• Charlotte, NC = 872,498 → 16
• Indianapolis, IN = 867,125 → 17
• Seattle, WA = 744,955 → 18
• District of Columbia = 702,455 → 20
• Boston, MA = 694,583 → 21
• Detroit, MI = 672,662 → 23
• Portland, OR = 653,115 → 25
• Memphis, TN = 650,618 → 26
• Fresno, CA = 530,093 → 34

Comparatively, these cities’ names, while familiar, might conjure up population pictures that are not necessarily what one might imagine.

For example, who would’ve thought that San Francisco (883,305) and Charlotte (872,498) are almost identically populated? Size Rank → 15, 16

Or Denver (716,492) and Nashville (669,053)? →  19, 24
Or Boston (694,583) and El Paso (682,669)? → 21, 22
Or Las Vegas (644,644) and Louisville, KY (620,118)? → 28, 29
Or Atlanta (498,044), and