The United States Senate is the most anti-democratic institution in the United States government. Not only do the Senate’s rules allow any 40 senators to override the will of that 100-member body’s majority, but the Senate’s one-state-two-votes structure gives that power to a minority of a minority.
The pernicious effect of that unrepresentative structure was demonstrated yet again in today’s vote on repeal of the US military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. In that vote 57 senators, elected to represent a large majority of the American people, were defeated by just forty, representing just 34.44% of the nation.*
California’s two senators, representing some 38 million people, voted for repeal today. But their votes were cancelled out — and indeed outweighed — by those of Wyoming’s two senators, who represent just 533,000.
If you’ve ever wondered why a policy change supported by 67% of the American public remains so resistant to repeal, now you know.
*Where a state’s senators split on DADT repeal, I counted each as “representing” half of that state’s population.
studentactivism.net 
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December 9, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Will
To achieve cloture, sixty percent of the body needs to vote in favor of the measure, so no, forty senators cannot block the measure. You also assert that the Senate is the most anti-democratic institution in the United States government, but do not back up that claim. Perhaps federal courts, where judges are appointed rather than elected, are less democratic? Or maybe the Federal Reserve Bank, which operates independently of Congress yet has vast control over the fate of our economy?
Also, senators are not elected to represent the people. That is what the House of Representatives does. The Senate provides for equal representation among these United States. Checks and balance exist to prevent mob rule and ensure the rule of law.
December 10, 2010 at 11:25 am
Angus Johnston
You’ve got a point on the Fed, Will, but I don’t regard the court system as anti-democratic. (And the judges are appointed by the president, after all.)
The Senate is a legislative body. Legislative bodies should be elected, and they should be elected on the principle of one person, one vote. The idea that Wyoming’s two senators are what are keeping up from mob rule is just preposterous, in my opinion.