3 ms·
You believe that by increasing transparency and granularity, voters will punish or reward Congresscritters more effectively and efficiently. I disagree strongl
by Kalium 11y ago
You believe that by increasing transparency and granularity, voters will punish or reward Congresscritters more effectively and efficiently.
I disagree strongly. I submit that most voters do not follow the legislative process very closely and vote accordingly. Rather, I submit that most voters make decisions emotionally using far less than the totality of the relevant information currently available to them. At this very moment, we have a batch of Congresscritters who gain the support of their constituents by obstructing their opposition by any means possible. Questions of frivolousness or caprice are not considered. This is the situation here, today, and now.
I think your notion fails because it adds extra information that voters will disregard. Because this information will be disregarded, it will not significantly impact the behavior of voters. The net result is likely to be an increased legislative overhead, more procedural tools to be wielded as partisan weapons, and voter behavior not shifting significantly. As a result, the failure mode of this proposal is everything wrong with the current (attaching bill-killing, shutdown-threatening riders) PLUS excessive bill-splitting for the sake of obstruction.
Might I suggest that your solutions should not hinge on sudden and dramatic shifts of voter behavior at a scale of many millions?