A (semi-)serious proposal...

Like most other states, Minnesota has a bicameral legislature reflecting the organization of the US Congress. However, unlike the federal system with two senators per state, Minnesota assigns both Senate and House seats based on solely on human population. This pointless duplication assures precisely the kind of failure the the national system is designed to prevent. Indeed, it serves as a legitimate motive to argue for a unicameral legislature (like that of Nebraska). However, assigning state Senate seats based on ecological geographical differences rather than human population would (1) guard against the tyranny of an urban majority and (2) give due recognition and value to essential land and water resources.





As currently divided, Minnesota has 67 senate districts, with a majority of these concentrated in the seven county metropolitan area of Minneapolis St. Paul and surrounding suburbs. One obvious alternative would be to elect one Senator for each of Minnesota's 87 counties but this approach also maintains fundmental population-based inequities. For example, Ramsey County with an area of less than 156 square miles is our most densely populated county at 3278 people per mile. St. Louis County, in contrast, extends over 6225 square miles (more than 5 times the area of the State of Rhode Island!) with an average of just over 32 people per square mile (most of those concentrated in Duluth). More locally, Beltrami County covers 2505 quare miles and has less than 16 people per square mile.








A more equitable and sustainable approach to assigning Senate seats would be to base them on watersheds which provide 'natural landscape units.' Neither current legislative districts nor counties have any significant relationship to real ecological differences. Indeed, these obviously squared lines on the face of a complex and fractal landscape exemplify human hubris -- 'imposing patterns not in harmony with natural patterns' -- and predispose policy makers toward ecologically unsustainable decisions. Minnesota recognizes 81 named watersheds (see here for more details) divided among eight major basins. Combining some fractional watersheds shared across state boundaries (e.g., #52 & #53 and #81 & #82) and perhaps some smaller adjacent watersheds within the state (e.g., it would be relatively simple to come up with a division into about 70 watershed-based Senate districts.

Just an idea... /dps