Texas redistricting efforts, as seen in the ongoing 2025 proposals to redraw congressional maps targeting Democratic seats in major metros like Austin, Dallas, and Houston, highlight a superficial fix to a deeply entrenched problem in America’s so-called representative democracy. Despite heated debates over gerrymandering and partisan advantages, the fundamental issue remains untouched: each of Texas’s 38 congressional districts encompasses an average population of around 766,000 people, based on the 2020 census apportionment. No matter how lines are manipulated, a single elected official is tasked with representing nearly a million constituents, rendering personalized or effective advocacy a practical impossibility. This scale dilutes voter influence, turning “representation” into a facade where politicians prioritize broad appeals, fundraising, and party loyalty over addressing the nuanced needs of diverse communities, exposing how redistricting battles distract from the systemic unrepresentativeness baked into the House structure.

This mockery stems from a stark deviation from the U.S. Constitution’s original framework, which envisioned a far more intimate ratio of one representative per no more than 30,000 people to ensure meaningful governance. Article I, Section 2 explicitly states that “The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand,” setting a threshold intended to keep districts small and accountable, as the Founders believed larger constituencies would lead to elite capture and diminished citizen oversight. However, the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 capped the House at 435 members, allowing district sizes to balloon as the population grew—now averaging over 760,000 nationwide—without expanding representation accordingly. In Texas, this results in politicians overseeing populations larger than entire states like Wyoming or Vermont, making genuine responsiveness laughable and betraying the constitutional intent for a government truly of, by, and for the people.

Compounding this flaw is the inclusion of non-citizens, including an estimated 1.7 to 2 million undocumented immigrants in Texas, in the census counts that determine apportionment and district sizes. While the Constitution mandates counting “the whole number of persons” for representation, this practice inflates district populations without corresponding voting power from these groups, further straining the already overburdened system and granting undue influence to states with high immigrant populations. Undocumented individuals, who cannot vote but are factored into the totals, contribute to the near-million-per-rep ratio, mocking the idea of representative government by diluting citizen voices and enabling politicians to claim vast mandates while ignoring the impossibility of serving such heterogeneous masses effectively. This not only perpetuates inequality but underscores how the system prioritizes demographic arithmetic over democratic principles.