EACH
STATE SHOULD HAVE
ONE MALE SENATOR
AND ONE FEMALE SENATOR
SYNOPSIS:
Should each of the 50 states that make up the United
States
select one male Senator and one female Senator for the U.S. Senate?
This change could be achieved by amending the U.S. Constitution
to require each state to select one Senator of each sex.
Or the state political parties could agree among themselves
to designate one seat in the U.S. Senate for each sex.
This change would be achieved
gradually
in the
normal course of electing Senators.
If a particular state has two Senators of the same sex,
at the next election, a
Senator of the other sex
would be elected.
OUTLINE:
1.
EACH STATE WOULD SELECT ONE MALE AND ONE FEMALE
TO BE UNITED
STATES SENATORS.
2. WHY THE U.S. SENATE IS IDEAL FOR SEX-EQUALITY.
3.
THE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WOULD NOT BE
CHANGED.
4.
SOME LONG-TIME SENATORS WOULD LOSE THEIR SEATS.
5. NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN TO BECOME
SENATORS.
6. SOME MALE U.S. SENATORS WILL RESIST THIS CHANGE.
7.
PARTY-AFFILIATION WOULD NOT BE AFFECTED.
8.
EVEN WITHOUT CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE,
THE POLITICAL
PARTIES COULD NOMINATE
CANDIDATES
OF THE
APPROPRIATE SEX.
9.
SEX-CHANGE CANDIDATES?
10. WOMEN'S ISSUES IN THE NEW SENATE.
11. A NOTE ON LANGUAGE: SEX,
NOT GENDER.
12. OTHER
CLASSIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE-HOLDERS
NEED NOT
FOLLOW.
EACH
STATE SHOULD HAVE
ONE MALE SENATOR
AND ONE FEMALE SENATOR
by James Leonard Park
A Constitutional Amendment might read:
"Each state of the United States
shall select
one male Senator and one
female Senator."
Equality of the sexes could be achieved
if the United States Senate
were to consist of one Senator of each sex
from each state.
All of the voters of
each state would select
one man to be their male Senator
and one woman to be their female Senator.
In each campaign for the U.S. Senate,
it would be known in advance that this is the year
to elect (or re-elect) a male Senator or a female Senator.
At present a few states
already have
one male Senator and one female Senator.
Nothing would change
for these states:
The seat now occupied by a male would become the male Senate
seat.
The seat occupied by a female would become
that state's female seat in the U.S. Senate.
These states will offer the least resistance to this change.
At present most states have two male Senators.
At the next election for a Senator after this change,
all candidates for that seat would be female.
This would mean that one male Senator
would not be eligible to run for
re-election in that year.
But he could run for the male seat in the next election for Senate.
In order to make a smooth transition,
this proposed Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
would come into effect for the next Senatorial elections
at least one year after the ratification of this change.
If this
change is achieved by agreement between that state's political parties,
they would probably also agree on a reasonable lead-time for the
change.
Likewise, some states now have two female Senators.
At the next election for the U.S Senate,
only male candidates could run for that seat.
But the displaced female Senator would be eligible to run
for the female Senate seat the next time that term expires.
1. EACH STATE WOULD SELECT
ONE
MALE AND ONE FEMALE
TO BE UNITED
STATES SENATORS.
Even the smallest states should be able to find
at
least one person of each sex who could be a good U.S. Senator.
It would be known years in advance which seat is coming up for election.
And all parties that wish to present candidates for the U.S. Senate
would know that they must nominate either a male or a female for that
seat.
In one election, only male candidates would compete
to be Senator.
In the next election in that state for the U.S. Senate,
only female candidates would compete.
Ever thereafter, each state would have one
Senator of each sex.
Also when any state governor must fill a vacant seat
in the U.S. Senate,
the governor will select a new Senator of the appropriate sex.
But, of course, all voters in each state would vote
in all elections.
This is NOT a process of females
selecting a female
Senator
and the male voters
selecting a male
Senator.
And each Senator would represent ALL of the people of his
or her state.
2.
WHY THE U.S. SENATE IS IDEAL FOR SEX-EQUALITY.
This pattern becomes possible by the unique feature
of our government
that has TWO Senators elected AT LARGE from each state.
U.S. Senators do not represent one geographical half of
each
state.
Each Senator represents the WHOLE state.
And under this change,
each female Senator would represent her whole state
and each male Senator would represent his whole state.
Each state has two (and only two) Senators.
Other forms of diversity can be achieved by the normal election
process:
Candidates of any race, age, ethnic group, occupation, etc.
can compete
in every election.
3.
THE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WOULD NOT BE
CHANGED.
This Senate-change would not affect the House of
Representatives
because each Representative is elected to serve
a particular
geographical area—the
Congressional District.
The parties are free to nominate candidates of either sex
for seats in
the U.S. House of Representatives.
And frequently a female does run against a male.
The voters of that Congressional District can vote for either
candidate.
Some other countries select their lawmakers at large
by voting not for specific candidates
but for parties.
Each party offers a ranked
list of candidates.
Thus parties can list specific proportions of candidates
from each sex.
For example, every third candidate on the party's list could be a
female.
If all parties follow the same pattern,
this will result in almost one-third of the parliament being female.
But would it be fair to say that a
certain geographical area
can only be represented by a male or a female?
Because each U.S. Senator represents the whole state,
no geographical area of that state is required
to be represented by a Senator of a particular sex.
The whole state has one male Senator and one female Senator.
It is lucky that the number of Senators is exactly two per state.
However, history shows that good candidates of
ethnic minorities
can be elected by geographical areas
where most of the voters belong to other identity groups.
For example, Barack Obama is an African-American
who was elected by all of the people of the USA.
And in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
we had an African-American U.S. Representative,
Keith Ellison, who is also a Muslim,
even tho most residents of Minneapolis are neither black nor Muslim.
And his successor, Ilhan Omar, is a female Muslim from Somalia.
One of our past mayors was a black woman.
In elections where anyone can be a candidate, open-minded voters
can select public officials who do not look like
themselves.
4. SOME LONG-TIME
SENATORS
WOULD LOSE THEIR SEATS.
When a particular state is represented by two
Senators of the same sex,
one of these people would be replaced by a Senator of the other sex
at the next election for the U.S. Senate in that state.
For example, California has two female U.S. Senators.
These might both be excellent Senators, but one of them would be
replaced
by a male at California's next
election for the U.S.
Senate.
The two female Senators could run against each other for the female
seat.
This could force the voters of California to choose
the better of these
two woman to represent them in the U.S. Senate.
The same would happen for states with two
male Senators:
When the next Senate term expires,
that male Senator would not
be eligible to run for re-election to that seat.
But he could run for the male seat at the next election for male
Senator.
And the voters (both male and female)
would be forced to select the best
male to represent their
whole state.
5. NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR
WOMEN TO BECOME SENATORS.
Many women have never considered running for the
U.S.
Senate
because they know in advance that male candidates almost always win
---especially when a male has been the long-term Senator
for her state.
But when one seat in the U.S. Senate is designated for each sex,
then all women from that state have an equal chance of being elected,
even if the candidates have never before been in the public eye.
And all voters would know years in advance exactly
when
the woman's seat in the U.S. Senate would next become available.
A female who might like to serve in the U.S. Senate
would run in the year to elect a woman Senator.
Likewise male candidates for the Senate would know
in advance
which years their states would elect male
Senators.
6. SOME MALE U.S. SENATORS WILL RESIST THIS CHANGE.
It might be difficult to get male Senators to vote
for this Amendment,
since it would involve some male Senators voting themselves out
of office.
But all candidates for the Senate could be asked by the voters
whether they support this change for the U.S. Senate.
And if they pledge to vote for this change to the U.S. Constitution,
more women will vote for them.
If the new Senate proves itself in action,
everyone will support this new pattern.
The U.S. House of Representatives
should not have as
much resistance to this change,
since it does not affect their own seats.
Candidates of either sex
could still run for each seat in the House.
7. PARTY-AFFILIATION WOULD NOT BE AFFECTED.
This proposal does not suggest
that each party
have an equal number of Senators.
At present, the U.S. Senate is about half Democrat
and half Republican.
How might this change if each state has one Senator of each sex?
The next election for U.S. Senate after this change
would have mostly female candidates.
These
female candidates would come from all parties:
Female Democrats, female Republications, female Greens,
female
independents, etc. would all be running against one another.
The voters (of all parties and sexes) would select their female
Senator.
8. EVEN WITHOUT CONSTITUTIONAL
CHANGE,
THE POLITICAL PARTIES COULD NOMINATE
CANDIDATES
OF THE APPROPRIATE SEX.
Even before any such Amendment might be adopted,
the
political parties of each state could decide to implement this
policy.
If
they have two male Senators,
the
next time there is an election for U.S. Senator,
they
could agree to present only female candidates.
And
that would become known as the woman's Senate seat for
that state.
Public
opinion could enforce balance even without a Constitutional
change.
Any
party that offered a candidate of the 'wrong' sex
would
have less chance of winning that election.
The
people of each state would already be thinking in terms of
this
being their seat in the Senate reserved for a man or for a woman.
9. SEX-CHANGE CANDIDATES?
Yes, reserving one Senate seat from each state for a
female
could conceivably encourage a former male who has become a woman
to run for that Senate seat as a female.
However, the voters will probably know about the
sex-change,
which could affect enough votes to elect one of the born-women
rather than a transsexual woman.
Because there are only 100 Senators,
this situation might never arise.
But we should take it into account in any such proposal.
Transsexual candidates could run for the seat of their choice.
And candidates who refuse to be classified by sex
could run for either seat.
10. WOMEN'S ISSUES THE NEW SENATE.
Sometimes the issues especially important to women
are ignored by a male-dominated Senate.
At present 75 Senators are men and 25 are women.
The new Senate would never reverse reproductive
freedom.
Women know that all people should control their own bodies.
Government should never tell women when and how to reproduce.
Military expenditures would be more closely examined
when more Senators are women.
Federal funding for education of children would increase.
And
laws having negative impacts on women would not pass.
Individual rights would prevail over government power.
Patriarchal
assumptions of every form would be
challenged.
11. A NOTE ON LANGUAGE: SEX,
NOT GENDER.
Some discussion of this proposal will use the word
"gender"
to refer to the fact that some Senators will be male and some female.
But the word "gender" refers to the masculinity or femininity of persons.
We will not select Senators according to their gender-personalities
---how 'masculine' or 'feminine' they are.
Rather without separating them according to their personalities,
each state will select one MALE Senator and one FEMALE Senator.
One Senate seat from each state will be reserved for a MAN.
And one Senate seat from each state will be reserved for a WOMAN.
All voters within each state will be able to vote for the best WOMAN
to fill the WOMAN'S seat when the WOMAN'S Senate seat is available.
And all voters within that state will be able to vote for the best MAN
to fill the MAN'S seat when the MAN's Senate seat is up for
election.
12. OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS FOR
OFFICE-HOLDERS
NEED NOT FOLLOW.
Requests
for other kinds of balance
would not follow from this change in the U.S.
Senate.
Candidates who belong to racial or ethnic minorities would compete
for either the male seat in the Senate or the female seat.
Likewise, no seats would be set aside for certain ages or occupations.
But candidates of all (legal) ages and all backgrounds would be
eligible.
And any candidate for any public office could ask
for
votes
based on any other named characteristics:
religion, nationality, sexual orientation, political leaning, age, etc.
But changing the U.S. Senate in this way
should not lead to any other prerequisites for office.
The Democratic Party itself in many states
shows how this change can be achieved
without prescribing other forms of balance:
Once the party chair has been selected,
the vice-chair must be the
other sex.
Within the party organization,
they are also free to select people of different ages and occupations.
Let each state select its best man and best woman to
be Senators.
AUTHOR:
James Park is an independent thinker.
He has long considered himself a feminist.
He believes in the freedom of women (and men)
to create themselves free of all cultural assumptions.
Read more on his website:
James
Leonard Park—Free
Library
This plan for creating a new U.S. Senate
has become Chapter 1 of Fixing
America.
Created
July 9, 2009; Revised 2-9-2010; 3-25-2010; 4-6-2010; 10-1-2010;
11-5-2011; 8-24-2012;
5-3-2013; 7-10-2013; 12-30-2013; 8-7-2014;
1-25-2015; 10-29-2015;
10-31-2015; 1-13-2018; 3-30-2019; 8-7-2019;
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Leonard Park—Free
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