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Comment by kelnos | Hacker News Reader

> It’s annoying when it gets in the way of the majority but also fundamental to how the US operates.

I think a government where the majority party can't actually implement any kind of agenda is a fundamentally broken government.

> I dont understand why states have to wait around for the federal government to solve healthcare.

Because they're ironically forbidden by federal law. Several legislators in CA would love to bring a statewide single-payer healthcare bill forward, but funding it would require using federal Medicare dollars in ways that require permission from the US Congress. Guess how likely that'll be forthcoming?

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> I think a government where the majority party can't actually implement any kind of agenda is a fundamentally broken government.

I think this is a big sustaining source of disillusion with the US government. Cynical minorities have a pretty easy way to make people hate the opposition by just blocking everything, this was even explicitly acknowledged by McConnel as their strategy. Block everything no matter how small.

I get it and don't agree with what the current republican party is doing, but that’s almost besides the point. If we can’t get an agenda accomplished then perhaps it’s too overarching to be agreeable to or considered fundamental by most of Americans.

Now, it’s also possible that we’re suffering from the two party hell we’ve created and that we have an overstated (too large) minority party that doesn't reflect the wishes of any reasonable fraction of our people... I tend to think this is more of a problem than people realize. We need voting reform to bring more plurality into govt operations and lawmaking.

> If we can’t get an agenda accomplished then perhaps it’s too overarching to be agreeable to or considered fundamental by most of Americans.

Republican Senators don't seem to care if an agenda is supported by a majority of registered Republican voters.

Anyhow, the Senate must be reformed or abolished. Land does not require representation. Give every state a guaranteed 2 senators, I suppose, but some reasonable formula should be implemented that apportions more populous states additional senators.

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