Why Bicameral Legislature Suits the United States

As it stands, the necessity of a bicameral legislature in the US is being contested, with the primary argument being that most countries in the world, such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Israel, and others, have a unicameral system, which helps with promulgating the necessary legislations faster. However, in the context of the United States of America, the arguments for a more unitary type of legislative system do not work.

The primary reasons as to why bicameral legislation is better are as follows:

• Unlike in Europe, where most countries have relatively hierarchical and non-autonomous regions, the states making part of the USA historically enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. The lack of representation in the Senate would effectively curtail this kind of autonomy, causing economic and political unrest.
• Most countries in Europe have strong ruling parties supported by the majority of the population. In the US, the overall votes are split 50-50 between two major parties. A unicameral legislative system would effectively cut off 50% of the population from ruling the country.
• A unicameral system would undermine the Great Compromise that allows for the balance of power between larger and smaller states. Without it, the political system would be dominated either by the populous regions enforcing their will on the others or by the sheer number of separate smaller states dominating over the public vote.

As it is possible to see, different types of legislation are preferred by different countries largely based on their size, history, and political circumstances. European countries are predominantly small and uniform in terms of their national makeup and political allegiance, which supports a unicameral system. The USA is a large multinational country that requires to balance of different interests of its member states. Therefore, a bicameral system is an excellent choice, despite its numerous tradeoffs.