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The Pros And Cons Of The WI Constitution

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The Pros And Cons Of The WI Constitution
Wisconsin’s government is not a “pure democracy,” That means that WI government is one where the people directly govern public affairs. When the U.S. Constitution was being debated, James Madison warned against the dangers of a pure democracy. Instead he wanted a representative republic in which the ideas of the people are refined “through … a chosen body of citizens.” This has been the system of government at the federal level and in every state for more than two centuries. In Wisconsin, this system is provided for in article IV, section 1, of the WI constitution. There it states that “the legislative power shall be vested in a senate and assembly.”

The Wisconsin senate consists of 33 members. They are elected to four-year terms. The assembly …show more content…
The state is divided into 33 senate districts. Each district elects one senator. Each senate district is also divided into three assembly districts. There are 99 assembly districts and each elects one …show more content…
Areas with more people have smaller districts. Each senator represents about 162,536 people and each representative represents about 54,179 people. In November, the voters elect (or re-elect) all of the assembly members and ½ of the senators. The next session of the legislature begins the following January.

SEX AND RACE
Of the 33 senators serving in the 2007-08 legislatures, 25 are men and 8 are women. Two are African American. In the assembly, 77 are men and 22 are women. Six are African American and one is Hispanic. According to recent census estimates, this means that African Americans are represented roughly in proportion to their share of the population (5.7 percent), while women (50.6 percent) and Hispanics (4.5 percent) are underrepresented.

AGE
Every legislator must be a qualified elector of the district he or she represents. This means that the legislator must be at least 18 years old, and reside in their district. At the start of the 2007 session, the average age in the senate was 54. Most of the senators were at least 50 years
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