# Should we abolish the Senate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 2, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-abolish-the-senate/834903 "2019-06-02T00:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-abolish-the-senate/834903/141 "2019-06-09T15:00:46Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > You’re not going to win a lot of support with just “I think this other way is more fair”. What could you offer the Wyomings and North Dakotas of the country to incentivize them to go along with your “case for changing that agreement”? Have you given that any consideration? Why should they be offered anything? They have power that is tremendously out of proportion, and thereby get to be part of a minority bloc that dominates the majority. What you’re asking is akin to saying “what should we offer the white ruling class in South Africa to incentivize them to go along with your case for changing the agreement on apartheid?” or “what should we offer the slave owners to incentivize them to go along with abolition?” It shouldn’t \*matter \*what they think, and we shouldn’t have to make a deal with the devil in order to do the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-abolish-the-senate/834903/142 "2019-06-09T17:45:12Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Why should they be offered anything? They have power that is tremendously out of proportion, and thereby get to be part of a minority bloc that dominates the majority. > > What you’re asking is akin to saying “what should we offer the white ruling class in South Africa to incentivize them to go along with your case for changing the agreement on apartheid?” or “what should we offer the slave owners to incentivize them to go along with abolition?” > > It shouldn’t \*matter \*what they think, and we shouldn’t have to make a deal with the devil in order to do the right thing. First of all, it’s not equivalent cases; stop trying to make your case with an appeal to emotion though false equivalencies. But more to the point: the Constitution itself REQUIRES that you do something for them, because they have to agree to give up that power. So, while you might think it’s simply justice that that power be given up, reality is that you need their approval. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-abolish-the-senate/834903/143 "2019-06-09T22:20:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s different in pretty much every way. > > The equivalent of somebody sticking a gun in your face is a dictatorship backed by force. A government like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union or North Korea; these regimes ruled by force because they didn’t have popular support. > > That’s the reason democracy works better than other political system. Democratic rule means the government has to do things which are supported by a majority of the citizenship. > > Democracy isn’t perfect; it still allows a majority to mistreat a minority. But every other political system is worse because it allows a minority to mistreat the majority. mikecurtis has a point. In California, too much population resides in a few counties in SoCal. Therefore, they have a lot of power in the Legislature. They exercise this power by fucking over the rest of the state when it is convenient. When the Northridge earthquake damaged infrastructure in the South, state money paid for the repairs. When the SF Bay Bridge was damaged by earthquake, the local area paid in the from of higher tolls. Note that the 7 toll bridges in California are ALL in the Bay Area; none of the bridges in SoCal are toll. The majority is screwing over the minoritiy, regardless that it is Democrats controlling other Democrats. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-abolish-the-senate/834903.md?page=7)