Ep. 16: Thomas Geoghegan on the Infernal Senate

Luke talks with Thomas Geoghegan about how undemocratic political institutions such as the Senate shape our country. Tom is a longtime labor lawyer, and the author of The History of Democracy Has Yet To Be Written. He has also written two important articles: “The Infernal Senate,” published in 1994, and “Abolish the Senate,” published in 2020. In the interview, Tom discusses the Senate’s undemocratic features, including the filibuster and the malapportioned representation system that unquestionably violates the principle of one person, one equal vote. As he noted in the 90s, “We can't raise our wages. We can't get health insurance. No aid to the cities. And why? The Senate votes it down. By a weighted vote, for small-state whites in pickup trucks with gun racks all out there shooting these things down. We have a Louisiana Purchase of Rotten Boroughs, full of Senators who are horse doctors, or in rifle clubs, targeting our bills.” Importantly, Tom notes that the political outcomes we grapple with on the front end, such as Trump’s election, are guided by undemocratic institutions on the back end.