150. Less Than 1 %

As we discussed in the past, social sustainability is not possible without an evolved form of democracy and peace.  For established democracies, progress must be made incrementally rather than all at once.  Because democracy is the most evolved form of governance,1  movement backwards toward more centralized governmental control either by the slow creep of an increasingly centralized, regulated, and controlling democratic government, or by martial law and military control after revolt, rebellion, or revolution signals the eventual death of democracy.  What is most desirable is an evolving democracy where the current stage anticipates the next increment of democratic effectiveness by adapting to social change.

It is a truism that only by adaptability are species able to survive.  The same capability is also necessary for democratic societies and all organizations that support democratic societies to survive.    (Adaptability:  See prior posts #3, 36, 37.)

Although the founding authors of the US Constitution did not foresee the necessary connection between adaptability and long term social sustainability, they did anticipate the need for improvements in the Constitution via Amendments; and as populations grew there would be a need for the number of representatives to grow to represent those new populations.  From 1789-1911, there was one representative for every 3,000 citizens.  In 1911, it was realized that the House of Representatives had become so large and unwieldly in its procedures that the number of representatives was fixed by the “Apportionment Act of 1911” at 435 members.  After 1911, population increases were added to each representative:
1789-1911: 3,000 citizens to 1 Representative
(2015: 320,000,000 citizens to 435 Representatives)
2015: 735,000 citizens to 1 Representative

That represents a decrease of 99.996% of influence individuals have with their elected representative compared to the influence citizens had until 1911.
[3,000 ÷ 735,000 = 0.0040];  {100%  0.0040  =  99.996% loss of representation.}

Effectively, the average individual is no longer represented by the Congressional Representative that they elected to office, which has created a “vacuum of influence.”
1  Democracies are not perfect, and never will be.  As each developmental stage of democracy reaches maturity, it is time for it to evolve to the next stage.  The nature of evolving democracies is to provide an adaptable democratic governing process that maintains the principles of liberty and the right of self-determination by its citizens, without jeopardizing the sustainability of its host society.