LET'S FIX CONGRESS

Congress is broken. Both the House and the Senate, bodies elected by the citizens of their respective states, no longer represent the interests of those citizens. Rather they represent the interests of those lobbiests with the most money to pass around.

Now I am not particularly opposed to lobbying. Nor do I intend to address the fact that the States (as opposed to the citizens of the states) no longer have any representation in Washington, DC. That is a blog for another day.

Today I plan to lay out a simple solution to the fundamental problem of redirecting congress to once again represent the voters who elect them.

The problem is that all of those congressmen are together in one place. Washington, DC. That means that lobbiests have a target rich environment in which to spread their money and buy their influence. Of course while this is great for the lobbiests, it is a real imposition on me and other voters who don't live in Washington, DC.

The Constitution originally specified that "...The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day..."

Until the last couple of decades it may have been necessary for Congress to all gather in Washington, DC, but today, with the advent of the internet, broadband connections, and video conferencing it simply is no longer necessary. The Constitution only requires that congress meet (i.e. get together as a group) once per year. They could pass a law to move the day to the 4th of July and they could all meet at the Vice Presidents place at the Navel Observatory and have a Bar-B-Que. It should be limited to only members of Congress and their immediate families. No staff, no Lobbiests, no reporters or TV cameras. Not even any caterers. Just a Bar-B-Que. They can flip their own burgers and dogs just like the rest of us. Their wives can make a potato salad and bake a pie or two. This would suffice as far as the Constitutional requirement for them to meet once a year.

On July 5th, they would all fly home to their respective Congressional Districts or to the State Capitol and they would conduct their business from there. Now if a group such as the Beef Bakers Association or the Potato Fryers Association or the NRA want to lobby congress, they will need to have people in every congressional district to do so. This will not be anywhere near as effective. On the other hand, I will have ready access to my Congressman and my Senator is only as far away as my State capitol. Suddenly our congress is faced with having to respond to their constituents and to those lobbiests who are representing issues and groups more closely aligned with my interests and the interests of my State.

Not only that but think of all the money we save by shutting down the infrastructure supporting congress in Washington DC.

I have been to Washington DC and noted that they already do this. They seldom actually meet as a bunch, rather they go to an empty chamber and give a speech to a camera and the other Senators or Representatives watch (if they are interested) on a TV monitor in their office. If a vote is called they all rush to the chamber and vote. They can still conduct business the same way except that if a vote is called they would vote over a secure internet connection instead of physically walking to their respective chambers to vote.

Another simple solution. I just wish someone was litening...