http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?020729crbo_books Rethinking the US constitution—just how democratic is it? I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong for 12 per cent of the population to control 44 per cent of the senate (through residing in “small” states)—equality of representation was presumably offered to prospective states in an attempt to alleviate concerns that (once incorporated into the Union) their interests would be ignored and I don’t see why this was ever an especially bad deal for anyone.
(Hertzberg tells us Dahl thinks we should not venerate the founding fathers: “If we worshipped the framers a little less, we might respect ourselves a little more.” One of my favourite Emerson quotes is similar: “Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books.”) 00:55