Looking back at the Founders of our nation, none of them wanted to spend the majority of their time in DC. They had lives outside the Beltway and other than the President spent most their time at home. They had founding principles that they fiercely protected and their constituents had access to them - not just staffers and email. Their constituents made sure they remembered who they represent.
Fast forward to today . . . we have the ability now to have secure communications from anywhere in the world. Votes and debates could be done from state offices. Travel to DC could be minimized to special meetings involving National Security, State of the Union, and a few other functions that would be advantageous to handle in person. Best of all, the members of the State they represent would have real access to their elected officials.
Costs to our Representatives and Senators would be greatly reduced. Instead of having a second residence in one of the most expensive cities in the world, we could have a Really Nice hotel they stay in when in town. Maybe it could be set up like a Residence Inn so they could just buy groceries and eat in.
The lobbyists wouldn't like this much. They would either have to teleconference with elected officials or travel a lot because our Representatives and Senators would be in their states rather than one cut off city. Security would be easier because the officials would not be all in one place.
Keeping our elected officials connected to real people instead of a bunch of self serving politicians would help keep corruption down because they would truly be accountable to the people who vote for them all year - not just at election time.
Just a thought.
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