To the editor:

Concerning the 2nd District congressional race story as to reasoning why the Democratic candidate lost in the midterm election (Journal-World, Nov. 11), this Sunday’s lead editorial in The New York Times could also provide some answers. It concerns the House of Representatives’ current size of 435 representatives, set in 1911, and proportions it to current population levels. Then each member of Congress represented about 200,000 people. Today that number is closer to 750,000.

To return to the number proportionately related to the 1911 figures would require an increase of 158 members. Americans may balk at the expense of adding a couple of hundred representatives (approximately $200 million or the price of five F-14 fighter jets) though a more representative government would seem to provide more security and perhaps reduce the extremism and polarization we’re seeing today.

Tom Guba,

Lawrence