I shall herein make public my Modest Proposal Regarding Washington, DC.

Make 'em telecommute.

That's right. We now have the capability to link ALL members of Executive and Legislative Branches electronically. Compared to some of the stuff that's been done lately, it wouldn't cost all that much to put in a massive fiber-optic network to do this (not wireless for security reasons). The public could, if they wished, "watch" Congress and the Executive Dept. at work from the comfort of their own homes.

This would have several beneficial effects:

1. Senators and Representatives could live in their districts, among their constituents. There would be no need for them to live and work in DC. More contact with those they represent! More contact with Real People!

2. Lobbying would be difficult at best....

3. One nuclear weapon wouldn't take out what passes for the country's leadership.

I'm certain you could think of others.

Other interesting things might also happen.

1. Costs would go down, since it's almost certainly cheaper to live and work in their districts than in DC.

2. We could pay each Senator and Representative the average salary in their district, with additional money voted upon and based upon how well the people in the district thought that the dude did last year.

3. I can hear the legislators now: "Fer Gods Sake! You want me to live WHERE?!?!?!"