Bryan Zepp Jamieson
July 29th, 2026
There’s been an uproar this week over an acknowledgment by DSA co-chair Megan Romer that among other things, the party platform advocated for ending the Senate as we know it. The political right and center are horrified at the notion, but it’s one that bears examination since over the past 70 years, the American fascist right have exploited the anti-democratic bias built in to the nature of the Senate and used it to create the ineffective and now almost-failed government we have today.
James Madison defended the role of the Senate in the proposed Constitution in Federalist Paper #62, For the Independent Journal. Wednesday, February 27, 1788: “In this spirit it may be remarked, that the equal vote allowed to each State is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual States, and an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty. So far the equality ought to be no less acceptable to the large than to the small States; since they are not less solicitous to guard, by every possible expedient, against an improper consolidation of the States into one simple republic.
“Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of the Senate is, the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence, first, of a majority of the people, and then, of a majority of the States. It must be acknowledged that this complicated check on legislation may in some instances be injurious as well as beneficial; and that the peculiar defense which it involves in favor of the smaller States, would be more rational, if any interests common to them, and distinct from those of the other States, would otherwise be exposed to peculiar danger.”
Even Madison was leery of unrestrained democracy, something that hadn’t been tried anywhere in over a thousand years. Thus he signed off on this, along with such anti-democratic measures such as the electoral college or the provision that permitted slaves to be counted in the decennial census but not as citizens in order to increase representation for the South.
Back in 2001, I wrote, “The Constitution, with its much stronger federal presence, supplanted the Articles of Confederation.
“But the mistrust among the states was high, and the weaker states wanted some guarantees against the
stronger states dominating them economically, politically, or militarily.
“Thus the constitution contained all sorts of provisions to prevent such from occurring. No state could
conduct foreign policy. No state could place any tax or tariff on trade with any other state. No state could coin money or establish other rates of exchange. The power of the states was considerably weakened.
“Further, the Senate granted determination in the Senate to state governments. Each state legislature
could appoint two Senators to the upper house, which meant that Delaware had as much say in the Senate as Pennsylvania. At a time when Delaware had legitimate reason to worry about conflict with Pennsylvania,including embargo or even invasion, it seemed like a good safeguard.
“There were two legislative houses. One was to be elected by the people of the states and apportioned
by state population. The other was to be appointed by the state government, and apportioned in equal measure to each state.
“Given the measure of mistrust among the states and the general shakiness of the nascent nation, it
seemed a good compromise, and indeed served the nation well for the next 127 years, when an amendment made the Senators elected by popular vote. There is no evidence that having Senators popularly elected was harmful, either.”
Now, there is absolutely no disputing that the House of Representatives routinely passes truly idiotic bills. Just this week alone, the House, under Mike Johnson (Trump’s only functioning penis) did this, per Brave: “Stop Insider Trading Act (H.R. 7008), passed on July 22, 2026, as a weak ethics bill that fails to require full divestment while bundling unpopular voter ID laws. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) faced opposition for provisions that critics claim deepen military integration with Israel and include partisan amendments regarding LGBTQ+ issues and state law preemption. Commentators have further criticized the House for voting to undermine the American Community Survey, arguing that eliminating this data source impedes scientific understanding and effective governance.”
I could provide thousands of examples of House fecklessness. At various points in history, they tried to outlaw charging interest on loans (t’aint biblical!), outlaw a variety of unpopular religions, ban margarine, or forbid women to wear pants. The Senate usually shot down most of those hare-brained schemes, leaving the rest for the courts or public opinion to eliminate.
Of course, these days the Senate is in equally bad straits. Just a glance at the incredible shit show Rand Paul put on with his Doctor Antony Fauci hearing, trying to use some 1,200 purloined pages from the doctor’s personal notes to show…well, presumably that Fauci conspired with China to create and propagate the COVID-19 virus. Sheer nutball stew stuff, right? The notes show nothing of the sort, of course, but they did show the utter and deep contempt Fauci has for conspiracy nuts, and his utter frustration at trying to get Trump to react to the crisis in a mature adult manner. Fauci took the Fifth over 100 times, sensing, correctly, that Paul wanted to lay a perjury trap (Paul, ever the idiot, had openly stated that intent the day before). Now, having thrown Fauci’s lawyer out of the chamber for the crime of giving Fauci legal advice, he wants to file criminal charges against him for pleading the Fifth, and won’t explain why he doesn’t mind that Trump did the same thing 450 times in testimony on the Epstein matter.
It’s an extreme example, but it’s obvious the Senate is broken. So badly broken that the media is asking the former Majority Leader and still Senator Mitch McConnell to show that he is still compos mentis, or even just still alive.
Now Romer feels the US would be better served by a unicameral (one house) legislature. It’s an attractive idea, one I’ve espoused myself. (I argued in a piece written about 2002 that the House should have 435 members, plus 200 ‘at-large’ member from the top 200 vote-getters in national elections to reduce the regionalism). Abolishing the Senate is a good subject for legitimate debate, but now isn’t the time.
You see, both the House and Senate are broken by design. Both have been reduced to rubber stamps for Trump and the fascists backing him, with vast amounts of money poured into elections making it nearly impossible to break the grip of the Senate.
The House has always been something of a circus. Ambrose Bierce in 1842 remarked, “Congress is in session and many a village is missing its idiot.” But now it is broken on purpose, part of a 70 year effort by fascists in America to break the United States government and thus create a power vacuum for churches and corporations to fill—to the detriment of the people, of course.
Breaking the Senate was easily done because the Constitutionally mandated gerrymander institute gives the least educated and most rural populace an outsized voice. In effect, only 16% of the voting population, the states electing 40 of the Senators, control the Senate. Gullible and uninformed, they were an easy target. (There’s a REASON Rush Limbaugh provided his three-hour-a-day show free to rural radio stations.)
Before we discuss Senate reform (or much of any reform, really) we have to break the power of corporations, plutocrats, and the fundamentalist churches. Until that happens, nothing else matters.
If the Democrats can win in November (and I hope many of them are democratic socialists!) their top priorities must be to get rid of Citizens United and put strong controls on campaign finance, to start enforcing antitrust legislation and break up the massive consortia that have a near-death grip on everything Americans consume, and resurrect the wall of separation between church and state. The tech bros have to be brought to heel, and outfits like Paramount broken up. No entity should be allowed to own more than a handful of broadcast stations, and internet giant such as Amazon and Google should be broken up into competing parts.
Until that happens, reform is a polite fiction. Do these things first, and then the rest will follow.
Do you want a government that protects your interests, or a fascist oligarchy who sees you only as a unit of consumption and values you purely on a profit/loss basis? Because that’s what Trump’s handlers want.
It shouldn’t be a difficult choice.
