What problems

What’s gone wrong with representation, and how this helps

The framers saw it coming. In The Federalist No. 55, Madison set out the objection he meant to answer: that the House “will be more and more disproportionate, by the increase of the people, and the obstacles which will prevent a correspondent increase of the representatives.” The 2020 Census counted 331,108,434 people for apportioning the House. It still has 435 seats.

Problem 1

Too many people for each Representative

By the 2020 Census each Member of the House speaks for 761,169 people on average, from 542,704 in Montana to 990,837 in Delaware. In 1793 it was 33,000. No one can know, or be known by, three-quarters of a million constituents. [1, 2]

How Open The House helps

At the ceiling the Constitution allows, 11,036 Members, each speaks for about 30,000: a district a candidate can walk, and a Representative constituents can actually meet.
Problem 2

Trust has collapsed

In September 2025, 17% of Americans trusted the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time,” one of the lowest readings in nearly seventy years of asking. In March 2026, 15% approved of the job Congress was doing. [3, 4]

How Open The House helps

Trust follows contact and proof. A Representative for every 30,000 people is close enough to know, and an open record lets anyone check what was proposed, what changed and how every Member voted, without taking anyone’s word for it.
Problem 3

A few people decide what gets a vote

Leadership and the Rules Committee decide which bills reach the floor and on what terms. Going around them takes a discharge petition signed by a majority of the whole House, 218 Members. [5]

How Open The House helps

Under the 30k Protocol any group of Members can draft an alternative, every change is visible line by line, and a published rule, not a leader, decides when a bill advances. Coalitions can form without permission.
Problem 4

Few real contests, and maps the courts won’t police

The Cook Political Report’s first ratings for 2026 rated 18 of the 435 seats as toss-ups. Federal courts will not hear claims of partisan gerrymandering, and the Voting Rights Act now reaches only districts drawn with a strong inference of intentional discrimination. [6, 7, 8]

How Open The House helps

More, smaller districts change the arithmetic of a map, and give the voters of both parties in every state a share of the seats. Wyoming, with one Representative today, would have about 19.
Problem 5

Campaigns cost too much

About $9.5 billion was spent on the 2024 races for Congress, counting outside groups. Districts of 761,000 people are won on television and with money, which buys access. [9]

How Open The House helps

A district of 30,000 can be canvassed door to door. A candidate who can meet the voters needs far less money to reach them, and lobbying 11,000 Members costs far more than lobbying 435.
Problem 6

Congress doesn’t look like the country

At the start of the 119th Congress, 125 of the 435 Members of the House were women, 29% of a body meant to represent a country that is about half women. A few hundred seats leave whole communities and points of view without a Member of their own. [10, 11]

How Open The House helps

Diversity is the fix. With 11,036 seats many more kinds of people can run and win, and no single group can decide alone: in the simulations, bills written by one group failed again and again, while bills written across groups passed, 6,230 votes for the Iran war coalition, 6,733 for health care, 7,435 for immigration’s workforce bill.
Problem 7

Local news is disappearing

The country has lost more than a third of its newspapers since 2005. In 2024, 208 counties had no local source of news at all, and nearly 55 million people lived in counties with limited or none. [12]

How Open The House helps

When no reporter covers the district, the record has to speak for itself. Every proposal carries a plain fact sheet of what it changes, quotes are verified against the exact text, and claims about votes are checked by every copy of the system.
Problem 8

Presidential elections drift from the people

Each state’s electors equal its Senators and Representatives. With 435 Representatives, the two Senate seats every state has weigh heavily, and the College can diverge from the national vote. [13]

How Open The House helps

In a House of about 11,000, Representatives would be about 99% of the electors, and the College would follow population far more closely, without amending the Constitution.

See how it would work The Legal Opinion The founding paper

What’s gone wrong with representation, and how this helps

Too many people for each Representative

Trust has collapsed

A few people decide what gets a vote

Few real contests, and maps the courts won’t police

Campaigns cost too much

Congress doesn’t look like the country

Local news is disappearing

Presidential elections drift from the people

Sources