How long do we let the little states make the rules for the big ones?

We have a problem in this country that we are not going to be able to solve.

We have a Constitution that was written 229 years ago for a nation that no longer exists. It was a nation in which the vast majority of people lived in small towns and on farms or plantations. A nation in which more than 90 percent of free people worked for themselves.

Thirteen states and every one of them was a coastal state, as long as you're willing to fudge a little with Pennsylvania. Despite what planters in the Carolinas may have thought, they had far more in common with each other than they had separating them.

Nations weren't yet a big deal. Up until the War of Northern Aggression (just kidding, but I do live in the state where W.T. Sherman was the Antichrist), when people talked about the United States, they said "The United States are ..."

After the war, it was "The United States is ..."

In 1800, there were 5.3 million people in the U.S., nearly 1 million of them slaves. There weren't as many as a million people in any single state.


Clearly a very different country than we are now. There are nearly 320 million people in 50 states, and one out of every eight lives in California. In fact, California's population is roughly equal to the smallest 20 states and the District of Columbia.

Those states have 83 electoral votes.

California has 55.

Even worse, those states have 40 senators.

California has two.

So we have a country in which a vastly unequal amount of power is handed to the little states, and often that makes it impossible to govern a 21st century country with 18th century rules.

And after happening only twice in more than 200 years, we now have a situation where twice in the last five presidential elections, the candidate who got the most votes lost the election. This time in particular, we got a president who may be the least qualified ever and the least emotionally suited ever with the possible exception of Richard Nixon.

Of course, the fact that the rest of the world is appalled by the thought of President Donald Trump actually pleases the people who supported him.

America First, after all.

So if the system no longer works, if the small states have too much power, what can we do about it?

Nothing good.

There are two ways to change the Constitution, and neither one will work here. Congress can pass amendments to the Constitution, but they have to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.

In other words, a pretty good number of small states would have to vote to give themselves less power.

Sounds like a non-starter.

The second way is for three-quarters of states to vote to call a Constitutional Convention. That gets around Congress, but it doesn't help with the main problems. You're just not going to get that many small states to surrender power.

Want the truth?

If there is no way around this, it will be the end of the United States. You're just not going to have a majority of the country allowing the voters of Tickle Me, Idaho; Bug Tussle, Okla.; and Goat's Anus, Wyoming make the rules.

Editor's note: One of those is a real town. An actual speaker of the House came from there.