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Comment by Y-bar | Hacker News Reader

> The distinction I think that most people from outside of the US probably don't fully understand is that, unlike in a lot of countries, each state is its own economy, government, politics, etc. rather than one sort of unified government that covers the whole country.

This is exactly how I see how my country and EU works. I feel like this is something I am intimately familiar with.

> Thus comes the senate, where a majority of states can decide that the law is inappropriate or against their interests and vote against it.

What mechanism causes the senate to be more resilient to those issues than a unified Congress?

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Before 1913, State's legislatures would elect their US Senators. Since 1913, Senators are directly elected but to longer terms than their peers in the House, as a way to make them less beholden to the whims of the zeitgeist and more stable in their consideration of "what serves the state" in that they do not face elections immediately and the results of their work are meant to be evaluated over a longer period. -- this is the intent, reality may bear out differently

> What mechanism causes the senate to be more resilient to those issues than a unified Congress?

The Senate is limited to two seats per state. With the current 50 states, that makes 100 members. So only 51 seats need vote against a bill they feel would harm their states. As the Senate is divided up, a very populous state (California) receives two, just like a very small state (Delaware) receives two, so each is on "equal footing" with the other states. [note that "small" here refers to population, not land area]

If everyone was all mixed together into one bowl, then a populous state like California (52 house seats, plus 2 senators for 54) is 22% of the total votes needed for a simple majority, all by themselves.

Don't forget the filibuster - most votes actually require 60 Senators to pass.

For most day-to-day legislation, we can have 59% in favor and still have a deadlocked Senate. The House has no means to bypass/override the Senate.

But, that's probably a whole other topic and way in the weeds.

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