> One interesting fact is that the USA population has roughly increased by a multiple of Dunbar's number since its organizational structure was codified in its Constitution. Perhaps time for another look?
I have had that exact same idle thought.
In 1813, each of the 182 US Representatives represented on average ~40,000 Americans. Today, each of our 435 Reps stands for about ~760,000 people. That's over an order of magnitude growth. To keep the same rate of representation, we'd need to have over 8,000 Representatives, which is clearly too large a body to get anything done.
So we're probably well beyond the point where we could benefit from a large House of Subrepresentatives and then a smaller House of Superrepresentatives that aggregate them.
I have had that exact same idle thought.
In 1813, each of the 182 US Representatives represented on average ~40,000 Americans. Today, each of our 435 Reps stands for about ~760,000 people. That's over an order of magnitude growth. To keep the same rate of representation, we'd need to have over 8,000 Representatives, which is clearly too large a body to get anything done.
So we're probably well beyond the point where we could benefit from a large House of Subrepresentatives and then a smaller House of Superrepresentatives that aggregate them.