California’s former Secretary of State Alex Padilla, was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Kamala Harris, following her election as Vice President of the United States.
Padilla is no stranger to elected office. He was elected to the Los Angeles City Council (1999-2006), California State Senate (2006-2014), and California Secretary of State (2015-2021).
However, Padilla made some strange comments about how state representation in Congress works.
Breitbart reported:
“On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s ‘Real Time,’ Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) said that the fact that there are four senators representing North and South Dakota but only two representing California ‘should change, on a number of fronts.’”
Host Bill Maher asked, “[T]here [are] four senators from the Dakota territory that represent about two-and-a-half million people, and you represent — one guy represents 20 million. That’s got to change, right?”
Padilla responded, “It should change, on a number of fronts. It’s why things — why not more things get done through the Senate. But let’s go back to the Electoral College, right? That’s not one person, one vote.”
He added, “It’s one of those long-lasting things that needs to be corrected. Go back to the founding of our nation and how imperfect it was, from the original sin in the Electoral College. We’ve made a lot of progress on a number of things, but representative democracy, still needs some work.”
Padilla, who assumed the U.S. Senate seat January 20, 2021, is already complaining that small states get the same number of U.S. Senators just as large states do – two.
Back when the country was being formed, to get the smaller states to agree to the powerful new federal government, they were granted the same number of U.S. Senators as the bigger states so they would not be dominated by the bigger states.
This was the compromise that the framers of the Constitution dealt with in creating the framework of the US government. While the U.S. House of Representatives is based on proportional representation based on population, the Senate was designed to have two senators per state regardless of population.
And the Electoral College was a compromise to prevent large populous states from completely dominating smaller states.
Padilla knows this. But he, as with many on the left, claim the U.S. Constitution isn’t fair, and want to throw it out. America is still a representative Republic, not a Democracy, by purposeful design to protect the rights of the individual, as well as the rights of minorities. And it also protects the rights of the majority.
A pure democracy would be a form of government in which the leaders, while elected by the people, are not constrained by a constitution as to its actions. In a republic, however, elected officials cannot take away or violate certain rights of the people, according to legaldictionary.com.
“Padilla also stated that California’s state policies eventually spread to the national level, ‘sometimes, despite the imperfect — again, Electoral College, U.S. Senate, filibuster, etc. That needs to go, that there’s an opportunity to leverage the size of our state, right?’”
Is Padilla advocating for “majority” mob rule under the guise of “Democracy?”
View Comments (31)
The U.S. Constitution is an inadequate document that doesn't work. It has no real checks and balances. The government can do whatever it wants whenever it wants. The examples are too numerous to mention here. It's not about Blue or Red. There is no Department of Justice in the U.S. Constitution. It's just another government mechanism to control the people. As for representative government, there is none. You cannot have representation for thousands of people with just one or two Congress critters -- or even four. The population of each state is too large and "diverse." No American has the "right" (according to the government) to stop paying taxes to a government that now has gone full-blown against the American people with its mandatory restrictions, it's invented "emergency powers," and a mail-order president who vows to destroy the second and first amendments. Do not praise a rotten corpse, of which the U.S. Constitution is the fetid corona. If the people want freedom, then dismantling the entire government, secession, and forming private, independent communities is the solution. Playing the Blue v. Red game merely prolongs the pain.
Barack, is that YOU???
Rubbish.
Our California U.S. Senators just seem to get more radical and dumber. Their brains "de evolve". Barbara Boxer dumb, Kamala Harris dumber, and now Alex Padilla dumbest. Can we get anymore lower IQ ? Him being a Democrud I'm surprised he did not play the race card.
Don't forget when he was Secty of State Alex Padilla spoke at Pitzer College and said "voter fraud is virtually non-existent." His small audience burst into laughter.
Don't forget that as Secty of State Alex Padilla came out alongside AG Javier Becerra before last year's election and tried to intimidate Repubs who placed ballot-collection boxes in their places of business in an attempt to keep up with the ballot-harvesting their Dem counterparts had legalized years before:
https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/ballot-harvesting-2020-has-ca-democrats-at-odds-with-republican-voter-drop-boxes/
Either you are profoundly ignorant or profoundly dishonest. The US Constitution is an elegant blueprint for a Republic (not a democracy!) that guarantees the rights of the MINORITY, and prevents a "mob-rule" democracy that you seem to embrace. Sen Padilla is simply a dishonest politician who tries to justify changing the Constitution in the name of "reform" and "fair representation". In reality, he just wants to usurp power for his political team, and doesn't give a damn how he does it.
Disgusting.
"The US Constitution is an elegant blueprint for a Republic (not a democracy!) that guarantees the rights of the MINORITY. . . ." LOL! A grade school child who can type! Brilliant!
Charles, the Constitution doesn't guarantee the rights of the minority, it protects the minority from the tyranny of the majority. Why would you mock Matt's response rather than respond intelligently?
Peasants
Listen and learn their future for you. Already your fellow residents spy and collude against you....careful they are coming-
I have to agree that Padilla has a strong point. Small states have two Senators while California has only two. This gives states with less population more power. It really doesn't make sense to give power based by states. Even California's Senate districts are equal by population. However, over time by 2050 or 2060, we should see eligible Latino voters become influential enough and that minorities become the majority that there wouldn't be a need to eliminate the Senate's 2 Senators for each state.
As someone who's in favor of stanctuary state and undocumented immigrants, it's really frustrating to see immigration policies not passing. But a pure democratic rule can be bad in the long run. Democratic supermajorities can pass anti business regulations and tax increases. Religious freedom can be curtailed to penalize churches that believe in traditional marriage. And while I'm in favor of education and lessening inequality (Our adjunct professors aren't even paid enough), spending can increase and balloon without figuring out if the increases are justifiable, done right, and if the tax increases are necessary. Having a balance of social class is vital for a harmonious society. You want some equality so the poor are not dying. But you also want at least a thriving middle and upper class so they can have the incentive or enjoy the fruits of their work from the higher positions they carry. Social mobility is important for getting the working class and the poor into the middle and upper social classes and education is very important for achieving that.
Not sure I'm following your reasoning there, Art. Want to try again?
At first glance, changing the Senate towards equal representation by population instead of by states may be tempting if you're in favor of supporting undocumented immigrants but it will just burden businesses and the upper class and lessen religious freedom in the long run as politicians follow the will of the majority each year.
Your position comes from a misunderstanding of how the Congress is supposed to function. The House of Representatives is the peoples' chamber, representatives being allocated according to population (it was capped at 435 once it was realized that any larger assembly would be too unwieldy to get anything done). The Senate is the chamber of the states, created out of the legitimate fear of runaway populism. It balanced the power of the House, dividing legislative authority between the peoples' representatives and those of the state legislatures. Originally, Senators were elected by the state legislatures. In my opinion, the 17th Amendment was a mistake.
But California has 53? house members, should the small states have that many? The senate with 2 is so every state has equal representation, the house is determined by population. I'm not sure what the Dakota's have but I'm fairly sure Montana has one. So how is that fair ????
It was intentional and the founders were a Lot smarter than these power hungry idiots who want nothing but the destruction of our great country.
It seems as though a lot of these guys, such as Padilla, have always been so focused on La Raza and taking the U.S. Southwest back for Mexico that they never even bothered to understand the basics of the U.S. system ---- even for show or to help them not-so-secretly undermine this country's foundation.
Remember, just as one small example, former CA Sen Kevin De Leon, wasn't even able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance when asked to lead it during a recent L.A. City Council meeting. He's another usual-suspect La Raza guy.
I would feel better represented if they had left the seat vacant.
I'm with you on that. :)
California actually has 53 Congressional seats compared to the Dakotas which each has one. The Senate has equal representation for all states regardless of population.
The key in the above article is knowing the difference between a Republic and a Democracy. We are a Republic. If we want a democracy or straight up popular vote get ready for NY and Ca. to elect every future federal official. Sounds fair right? California w/ it's population that's larger than all of Canada..... Larger than Australia and New Zealand combined.... Think hard about that. Do we really want one state to wield that much say in national politics? Does what works in Ca. work in the Dakotas? Do the billionaires in Palo Alto need to be the US kingmakers?
Great explanation. Thank you!
It does if you're a doofus Senate appointee from La Razaland, er California named Alex Padilla....
Sen. Alex Padilla must have never taken a civics or an American history course? If he attended college, no doubt he majored in La Raza studies?
Well said! Tony you nailed it!
California is the poorest State in the Union now---17.2 poverty rate---worse than Mississippi ---15.2--- we have to tank for people ignorant like Alex Padilla for that...