Comments?
Phil,
I think this eCongress idea would be a very useful reform, and I encourage you to support it.
When legislators meet at a central location away from the people they represent, it is easier for lobbyists and special interest groups to communicate with them, and more difficult for ordinary constituents to do so. If they were required to stay home most of the time, there would be fewer opportunities for them to get together and cut back room deals, or to collaborate with the executive branches and the bureaucrats and government employees who populate the capitols. They would be less likely to become arrogant and out of touch with the people they purportedly represent.
As to whether they show up to vote, it matters very little in the aggregate. What matters is *how* a particular representative votes, not *whether* he or she votes. If it were more difficult to attend committee meetings, they might just schedule fewer of them, and that wouldn't matter much either -- since again it makes little difference how frequent or how well attended committee meetings are, only what the purposes of the meetings are and what comes out of them.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))