Not according to what I've heard, Danny. And it was not in the context that you are alluding to ("an effective public tactic to get before a microphone on the steps of some vaunted Hall and claim that you were not given the time to read the content of a Bill") . Sure the Congressmen have staff who work for them and network and find out stuff for them, but many Congressmen still vote for bills that they have only a very partial knowledge of, and they do so precisely because they have been quite pointedly asked to do so by more powerful people who are higher up the chain of command, and they know they are expected to do so. Great persuasion is brought to bear in the halls of government within any given political party, and it generally has its way with almost the entire rank and file. You get the odd maverick like Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul who frequently bucks the party line, but mostly you just get supine acquiescence.

This is just as true in Canada or the UK or most other countries as it is in the USA.

You know what happens to the few mavericks who dare to think for themselves and dare to vote against party line? They may get re-elected by their own constituents if they are popular enough on the home turf...or they may not...but they are never allowed to rise very high within the command structure of their own party, precisely because they did not cooperate with its command structure. They remain as a voice in the wilderness. They say what no one else will say, it is paid very little attention to by either their party or the mass media, and nothing much changes.

That's the way it is here in Canada. It always has been. That's the way it is in the USA as well.

Party line is a way of enforcing conformity upon representatives and muzzling conscience. That's why I have so little regard for political parties. There isn't one political party of any consequence in the world right now that I have any respect left for...though I certainly do respect many of the individuals (elected and otherwise) who are in those various parties.