A thought experiment that occurred to me this morning.
What if some member of the chamber of people’s deputies decided not to take his seat in Washington, instead taking his oath in his state capitol or home district, and managed his constituents business from there? Yes, it’s kind of a whizzy sci-fi idea where someone replaces human interaction or proximity with tech.
Flaws:
- legislating is about deals and favors: hard to consummate those without personal contact
- proximity still matters: why else are cities growing and why are the most powerful/influential cities so large (London, New York, Tokyo, 10 million people or more with millions more in the surrounding region)
- can you really serve your constituents while remaining at home
Part of the idea for this came from conversations earlier in the week, where it was mentioned that no one gets rich in public service. The best you can hope for is, as a congress member, to take home your campaign war chest when you retire (I think they should be required to donate it to the treasury). Where they make money is in graft and other corruption that only comes from them all being in one place where the money flows so easily.
Hmm. It sounded a lot more interesting this morning.