The perpetually invaluable Glenn Instapundit Reynolds linked (yesterday) to an article in American Affairs.
The American City’s Long Road to Recovery
Even before 2020, America’s great cities faced a tide that threatened to overwhelm them. In 2020, the tsunami rose suddenly, inundating the cities in ways that will prove both troubling and transformative, but which could mark the return toward a more humane, and sustainable, urbanity. The two shocks—the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring, followed by a summer punctuated by massive social unrest—have undermined persistent fantasies of an inevitable “back to the city” migration.
Public Health
Our major metropolitan areas failed the test of COVID-19 badly. New York City and its Subway were the most significant locus of the initial spread of the disease. Our other major metropolitan areas were little better.
Public Mental Health
Overcrowding of the human animal is inextricably linked to the mental illnesses that plague our citizenry. Among those pathologies are gender disphoria and Socialism.
Proposed Remedies
House of Representatives. Congressional Districts will adhere to the political boundaries of the State, County, and municipality of their population. If a county or municipality has a population of more than 150,000 citizens, it shall be represented by no more than three Representatives. If a county has a population of less than 50,000 citizens then two or more adjoining counties within the same state may be added to form a district of not less than 50,000 citizens.
Funds for the election of Representatives may only be accepted from citizens living within or owning and operating a business within the Congressional District. Any candidate for the House of Representatives who accepts a contribution from a person, business, or other entity not located within their district shall be personally liable for a fine not less than ten times the amount of the contribution.
No member of the House of Representatives shall serve on more than one committee and two sub-committees. No committee nor sub-committee shall have any permanent staff. No member of the House of Representatives shall employ staff outside of their district.
No member of the House of Representatives shall be eligible for reelection who has not been resident and present within their district for less than 200 days in their current term.
The Senate. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution is revoked and the original wording of Article I, section 3 is restored. No person shall be seated as a Senator who has not been resident and present in the State they represent for less than 600 days in the six preceding years. No Senator shall accept any contribution from any person or entity not resident within or licensed to operate a business within the State that Senator represents. The Senator shall be personally liable for a fine of not less than twenty times any contribution from any entity outside the state they represent.
No senator shall be on more than two committees and four subcommittees. No Senatorial Committee shall have any permanent paid staff, and all staff employed by the Senator must satisfy the residency requirement of a Senator.
