Posted on 11/01/2014 1:41:16 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
March 22, 2013, 10:22 pm GOP lawmaker seeks 'virtual Congress' with telecommuting plan By Jennifer Martinez Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) wants to create a "virtual Congress," where lawmakers would leverage videoconferencing and other remote work technology to conduct their daily duties in Washington from their home districts.
Under a resolution Pearce introduced on Thursday, lawmakers would be able to hold hearings, debate and vote on legislation virtually from their district offices.
While Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer may have recently nixed the Web company's work-from-home policy to boost its performance, Pearce believes a remote work arrangement may benefit Congress and make lawmakers more accountable to folks in their home districts.
Pearce says the resolution would eradicate the need for members to jet back and forth from their districts to Washington each weekend. This would allow lawmakers to spend more time with their constituents rather than the armies of lobbyists from K St., he argues.
“Thanks to modern technology, members of Congress can debate, vote, and carry out their constitutional duties without having to leave the accountability and personal contact of their congressional districts. Keeping legislators closer to the people we represent would pull back Washington's curtain and allow constituents to see and feel, first-hand, their government at work," Pearce told The Hill in a statement.
"Corporations and government agencies use remote work technology; it’s time that Congress does the same," the New Mexico Republican said. He introduced the same resolution during the last congressional session.
It would also allow them to hide out while making decisions that screw us...
Sounds great.
Brilliant idea! They could still hold ceremonial events in DC, and of course classified hearings might require physical presence, but almost all legislation could be done from home states and home districts!
There’s a visionary person. Lobbyists would also have more trouble flying hither and thither to start up backroom deals. DC parties have even corrupted wives of SCOTUS justices and in turn the justices themselves. [Note ‘Men in Black’, Roe-V-Wade chapter.]
Also an excellent option during national emergencies, including quarantines.
What do you think they do now? At least we would be able to make them explain their actions. Torches and pitchforks seem to have a stabilizing effect on one’s actions.
“maybe this would give less power to the lobbyists”
Absolutely. They host expensive parties and events at DC properties. This entire system would be crushed. And it would take a long flight to work out an old fashioned backroom deal.
BTW — also good to keep them separated in case of a WMD terror attack.
Good news — not NEARLY as cloistered. DC is an Ivory Tower.
They’ll have security, especially the high-tech kind, but what concerns me more is a terrorist who might ‘off’ a bunch of them at once.
I recall Glenn Beck saying something along these lines. But how many congress critters blew off that suggestion? In one ear and out the other.
TWO SIDES to this coin:
1. Easy to understnad how hard it would be for ‘out-of-state’ and foreign lobbyists to visit every office for direct backroom deals.
2. Also worth considering LOCAL lobbying, people from their own state/district.
“Lobbying would have to take place by phone —a risky thing.”
And by computer — hacker risks.
“It would also allow them to hide out while making decisions that screw us...”
They use DC as their fortress and pleasure palace, away from local consituents.
When you put prison inmates together in prisons, that’s so lame because they network and educate each other. Too much inmate-to-inmate private contact.
And when you put political types together where lobbyists can host grand events in mansions, that’s even more foolish if it can be avoided.
“Outlaw lobbying” — how?
One of the ‘go-to-guys’ on this would be Mark Levin. In Men-in-Black he chronicled how DC corrupted an otherwise honorable supreme court justice through his DC-exposed wife. Guess what court decision he drafted?
Roe-v-Wade.
Why? Because his wife was indoctrinated by the DC beltway and then she indoctrinated him. It was not an isolated instance either. Nixon had noticed it was a regular pattern and was deeply concerned about judicial nominees’ wives.
“...watch the home values in the Washington DC area come down drastically...”
You are so correct. DC has an artificial lobbyist economy. And guess what?
[Google copy]
D.C. Ranks as Most Expensive City in the Nation to Live
Actually, DC would become a tourist town, exactly what it should be. Free market tourism would replace the lobbyists. But its real estate values would plummet — you bet.
I'm talking about hiding in truly undisclosed (possibly bunkered) locations - internet connectivity makes it very possible.
Holy crap, that's MY HOUSE!
Great idea though. I"m thinking the time has come for this to start being implemented as an "emergency" backup plan, then we can start forcing them to stay home all the time.
Yeah, no more elegant cocktail parties and $500-a-plate Wagi steak dinners.
It’s time they rub elbows with the dooshes that elected them.
Congress would have to study baaic geography. I doubt many could even locate their state on a map.
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