Comments on: That Other Election

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 05:28:25 +0000

Locally, you never see the guy, except for a couple of weeks around elections. His home is in a small town, and if he comes back to the area, that’s where he goes. He has no idea what the laws Congress passes does to the local area, as his main source of information is the “good ol’ boy” Repub network.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 03:58:32 +0000

I can foresee problems as well as benefits to all of this, and it’s just part of evolution I suppose.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 03:57:02 +0000

It might make them more accessible to their constituents too, so they don’t have to travel to Washington DC to meet with them.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:18:35 +0000

They would certainly have to meet to take their oaths, and new members would need to take classes on procedures, but most of the time things would be a lot cheaper if they stayed in their district.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:05:39 +0000

I agree they should teleconference, just not exclusively. Maybe they need to convene in person at the start and end of every session, but not less often than that.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:14:31 +0000

It just that from the years I watched CSpan I rarely saw them doing much that required them all to be in the same room. Teleconferencing would be just as effective and would reduce the all of the flights to and from their districts with the dollar and carbon costs.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:30:34 +0000

Which is better than some and worse than others, I’d imagine.

I just don’t see the function of the US Congress being met by remote-only conference. The virtual world we are creating in this electronic space may have a separate kind of government, look at the Wikimedia Foundation and other projects like that.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:36:15 +0000

My local media are libertarian whackos who hold politicians in less regard than other “welfare recipients” and don’t understand why any taxes are necessary.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:59:48 +0000

Assuming your local media is impartial and not itself part of the Hedgemony…?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:48:58 +0000

I can’t say for sure which is the cause and which is the effect, but most Congresscritters are rare things in their district and what they do is not reported on by the local media. If they were in their districts the local newspapers and alternate weeklies would have more interest and access.

It’s annoying that the local media carry stories about what Congress does, but rarely mention what our Congresscritter did, unless the ‘critter issued a press release.