Let Congress Tele-commute: A Radical, Common-Sense Proposal to Transform Representative Government
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, February 19 2010
If you haven't noticed already, I like "crazy" ideas. That is, notions that may appear like they come from outside the ballpark, but have a germ of possibility and suggest, "There might be a better way to do things than what we're doing now." (Here are some of my more recent ones.) And I like working at the intersection of technology and politics precisely because, well, while politics looks pretty broken (gridlocked, frustrating, money-dominated, etc), technology is bringing us revolutions like clockwork. Just think: YouTube is only five years old. Twitter is turning four in March.
So, when someone comes up with a fresh way of thinking about how the internet could transform politics, I pay attention. And I think others should too. Take a look at Ralph Benko's recent piece in the Washington Examiner, "Give the people the home-court advantage." In it, he makes a deceptively simple suggestion: let's let Members of Congress tele-commute and allow votes from their home district.
...There was no other way in the 18th, 19th, and most of the 20th century. In the 21st century, of course, this is absurd.
As things now stand, it is too easy for lobbyists and party leadership to “get at” our elected legislators. And too hard — impossible, on a concentrated basis — for voters to spend “face time” with their representatives.
We plain folks, and our representatives, would be well-served by changing the rule requiring our legislators to vote from the floor of Congress....
Sheer proximity is a very powerful thing. Lobbyists consider “face time” the crown jewel of their pursuit. Proximity is a soft force, but a powerful one. In sports parlance, it’s called “the home court advantage.”
By a simple rule change, our legislators could give themselves permission to vote from their district offices. Not require it. Simply permit it. From there, they could tele-speak, by Web, and tele-listen, by Web.
Now, they listen by closed circuit TV and speak rarely enough. They could speak more conveniently, and thus more often, by Webcam than they do now, and from home.
In fact, they could invite their constituents to form a “studio audience,” changing the chemistry rather dramatically.) They could make a district office home-base for most of their staff, instead of doing it backwards, as now.
In my humble opinion, this is absolutely brilliant. If you want a government that is more open, participatory and collaborative, then why not let Members tele-commute and legislate from home? For starters, why not set aside one month in the legislative calendar to try it out?
Benko is the author of The Websters' Dictionary, by the way. Well worth the download. And he'll be speaking at Personal Democracy Forum this June.