I Propose Creation Of A "Shadow Congress" Whose Members Are Chosen At Random

"Good Ideas For The Body Politic": Randomly Chosen Political Representatives

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/10/good-ideas-for-body-politic-randomly.html

Shadow Congress

I propose creation of a "Shadow Congress" whose members are chosen at random.

A few boring practicalities...

While in office, "shadow legislators" would be paid the "mean annual income" of American citizens. (Contributions to each member's Social Security account will accrue proportionately, but there will be no unique retirement benefits.) 

The function of this randomly-chosen Shadow Congress -- 100 senators and 435 House representatives -- would parallel the function of Congress on Capitol Hill. 

Legislation approved by Shadow Congress will not be enacted in "the real world."

At bottom, there is only one significant difference between Capitol Hill and Shadow Congress --- Isolation. 

Shadow congresswomen and shadow congressmen would live in a remote geographic "enclave" -- perhaps in Northern Maine, Eastern Oregon, The Four Corners (assuming permission is granted by Hopi, Navajo, Ute and Zuni homelands), a rural sector of Hawaii's Big Island, the central mountain range of Puerto Rico, Point Roberts, Washington, or perhaps a man-made key en route to Key West.

In addition to relative geographic isolation, the most important feature of "Shadow Congress" is that congresspeople forswear use of all electronic communication devices during their time-limited term of office. (Immediate family members may choose to live with a "congressperson" in their family, although members of Shadow Congress will be more or less confined to their enclave, similar to the way in which monks are relatively confined to their monasteries.)

Absent electonic communication devices -- cellphones, computers, televisions and kindred gizmos -- the "Enclave Capital" will have as its information-and-communication nexus a state-of-the-art hard-copy library whose trained staff will work hand-in-glove with The Library Of Congress to provide high-quality print resources "on demand."

Members of Shadow Congress will have no contact with outside lobbyists or pressure groups. 

It may be best if there is no direct contact with anyone outside the enclave -- except in cases of emergency -- unless a Shadow Congressperson requests visitation by a person who would then come to the enclave to speak in open session, or, if congresspeople choose to conduct open "town hall meetings" in which case they are at liberty to visit their home districts.

Geographic and electronic isolation, coupled with abundant conversation - and "living together" in community - are the chief characteristics of Shadow Congress.

The "issues" treated by Shadow Congress will include many of the same issues dealt with by Capitol Hill, assuming Shadow Congress deems Capitol Hill issues worthy of legislation.

Shadow Congress will also undertake study and discussion of issues of its own choosing - issues that are not on Capitol Hill's agenda. 

Unlike Capitol Hill, Shadow Congress will be obliged to balance the budget and to set taxes accordingly. (I will note that "The Federal Budget" is the most moral - or immoral - document in America.)

Without getting bogged in detail, let us suppose that the terms of Shadow representatives and Shadow senators are two and four years respectively. 

Here, in broad terms, are a few benefits that may manifest.

Absent the influence of electronic media and political pressure groups, it will be enlightening to learn how randomly-chosen "shadow congresspeople" devise legislation on the same issues legislated on Capitol Hill under influence of political pressure groups, mass media manipulation, and the need to devote large amounts of time and "political impetus" on behalf of pay-to-play "patrons" who will - by the same mechanism that propels bribery - finance their next election campaign.

It will also be enlightening to learn what legislation will be promulgated by Shadow Congress on issues that do not even rise-to-radar in the "collective conscience" of Capitol Hill.

I have no idea what impact Shadow Congress would have.

It could be colossally disappointing. 

But "what if..."

What if American citizens are more interested in the workings of Shadow Congress than Capitol Hill, even though "shadow" legislation has no impact on "the real world"?
  What if American citizens are moved (transformed?) by a legislative process that not only specifies government outlays but details how those spending commitments will be paid for through the coming year's tax code?

What if American citizens become interested in government by a Congress in which they themselves -- or You Yourself -- might serve when randomly selected?

What if American citizens demand that their elected representatives on Capitol Hill behave like randomly-chosen, financially non-interested shadow congresspeople?

And what if elected representatives start pushing to get monetary influence/bribery/plutocratic-bias out of government so that "the people's business" gets the disinterested, caring, and undivided attention it deserves?

Afterthought:

It occurs to me that "Shadow Congress" need not be paid for by American taxpayers. 

It could, for example, be financed by the Democratic Party. 

Or the Republican Party.

Or a collaboration by both. 

It could be paid for by a de novo organization. 

It could be paid for by a billionaire (or a consortium of billionaires). 

It might even be paid for -- perhaps as "foreign aid" -- by the European Union, or Russia, or Japan, or South Korea, or Canada --- or any "body" interested in the long-term survivability of these fractured and increasingly paralytic "United" States.