Excellent questions. Yes, 1 member out of 435 is a drop in the bucket - the goal would not be to control the congress, but to give people a reason to care about

Excellent questions. Yes, 1 member out of 435 is a drop in the bucket - the goal would not be to control the congress, but to give people a reason to care about the issues, and a reason to engage in discussion and debate that encompasses all sides of an issue, rather than gravitating to radical punditry and entrusting the entire decision-making process to politicians. A friend derisively described this idea as "American Idol for democracy", and that rings somewhat true, but is it a bad thing? Wouldn't it be a good thing if the average American knew as much about the current goings-on in congress as they already know about the current goings-on in American Idol?