I was talking with a very RW fellow geek a while back & he & I found something we could both agree on. This thread was sparked by a post about lobbyists in the China Trade Thread.
With today's technology - why do our representatives & senators need to go to DC? Here's the thought:
Have them stay in their own district/state. Set up commonly available teleconferencing equipment so they can attend sessions, make speeches & do all that kind of stuff. All "conversations"/speeches/votes over the system would be recorded & be public information.
This way they are closer to their constituents, we save a ton of money on duplicate offices & staff & best of all - any lobbyists would have to either travel to each state - or "visit" via teleconferencing - which would also be recorded as public information.
Maybe they need to meet quarterly for a week or some such - but they could stay in a Days Inn for that & not take their whole office with them. We'd probably need some staff (for the entire senate/house - not individual senators/congressmen) to coordinate things.
Yes, I realize that this could have a devastating impact on the city of Washington DC. Maybe we could help residents get productive jobs with some of the savings? There'd still be all the jobs related to all the federal agencies to employ people.
I realize I'm dreaming - but thoughts anyone?
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