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“So I think there are three characteristics of any democratic system. The first is political equality. People are equal in standing when they come to make a collective choice,” Nwanevu told columnist Ross Douthat.
“So when it comes to the Senate, for instance, we have one of the most malapportioned upper houses in the world,” he added.
To Nwanevu, it’s a major problem that states like Wyoming hold the same two Senate seats as giant states like California. For Democrats, this means less control over federal power and fewer chances to push through progressive legislation.
“The Senate shapes the judiciary, it shapes the executive branch, and obviously, it’s a veto point for the passage of even ordinary legislation,” he said. “But I think, it’s fair to say that a system is not really democratic, as much as it might purport to be one.”
Although The New York Times gave the interview a headline designed to sound extreme, Nwanevu’s proposals are still shocking. One of his suggestions is to “add new states to the Senate.
“I think that there is an ideological imbalance now for all kinds of reasons in who gets represented the most and most reliably in that body,” he explained. He then admitted that his proposal would not fix the Senate permanently, but instead would allow Democrats to benefit from the very structure he criticizes.
Unsurprisingly, the states he wants added are Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.—two liberal strongholds that would almost certainly elect four new Democratic senators.
When pressed by Douthat about whether the Senate should exist at all, Nwanevu hinted that even abolishing it should be on the table.
“Well, that’s another question. I think it’s worth exploring,” he replied. “It’s a kind of radical idea, but it’s an argument that you have to make on the basis of getting people to understand, not only that the system is not democratic, but what is the value of democracy, actually, to begin with?”
The far-left writer also pushed for sweeping changes to how the presidency itself is decided.
“We could start with the thing that I think most Americans think about when they think about the undemocratic nature of our system, a reform that most Americans have supported for a long time, which is dealing with the Electoral College,” Nwanevu told the Times.
“There’s a proposal on the table now, actually something that’s being acted upon in states across the country, to move to a national popular vote by interstate compact, without needing a constitutional amendment,” he continued.
Why are Democrats suddenly obsessed with rewriting the rules of the game? The answer is simple—they lost. The crushing election defeat last year left them scrambling for answers. Instead of reflecting on why Americans are rejecting their party, many liberals are now fantasizing about rewriting the Constitution itself.
For the Democratic Party, it’s not about democracy, it’s about power. That has always been the goal, no matter how much they disguise it with lofty rhetoric about equality and fairness.
But until Democrats reconnect with the people, their radical schemes won’t save them. The American system of government—designed to prevent one side from dominating the other—continues to stand in their way. And that is exactly why they want to tear it down.
