Mrs. Teabody Makes a Modest Proposal

Good Morning, Gentle Reader! Are you basking in the fall-like temperatures that greet the day? Fall has its share of naysayers, of course, but many folks of Mrs. Teabody's acquaintance profess a fondness for wearing sweaters, for reading under the warmth of an afghan or comforter, and for lighting that first fire in the fireplace. Perhaps cooler climes will end the tyranny of this new wave of hostile insects bent on baffling physicians from Bangor to San Clemente. One surely hopes.

Are you an on-line shopper, Gentle Reader? If you are, perhaps you are familiar with amazon.com? Mrs. Teabody is overly fond of books, and with a profound dearth of bookstores in these woods, she has been most delighted at the effortlessness of purchasing various and sundry things from amazon.com. Perhaps you have noticed that more and more companies are connecting their online ordering through this efficient service. Why, just this very week Mrs. Teabody purchased wallpaper border and merchandise  hang tags that ran their ordering process through amazon.com's portal. Mrs. Teabody labors this point as she was struck with a remarkable idea  this morning as she wrestled with the image of Mitt Romney pushing the buttons on his car elevator and an even more frightening image of Paul Ryan placing a pillow over Mrs. Teabody's wrinkled visage to rid the world of yet another useless senior citizen.

But enough of Mrs. Teabody's nightmares, here is the question: in this digital age, is it really necessary or practical for the Senate and House of Representatives to meet in any  kind of brick and mortar edifice in Washington, D.C. to carry on their business of accomplishing nothing at all? Mrs. Teabody herself bought a used Dell laptop for less than $400 and pays less than $100 per month for DSL so she knows that linking these public servants via the internet would be far more cost efficient than having them soaring around in airplanes and/or private jets.  Mrs. Teabody strongly suspects that most of the folks serving in the House and Senate possess the digital savvy necessary to communicate in the cyber world.

Once the House and Senate began the business of running policy (or not) in these United States via the internet, an entire New Age of transparency in politics could be born. Each American citizen possessing a  Social Security card would have a log-on password that would enable him/her to check on the progress his or her elected official was making, what sort of legislation was being considered, and, most importantly, whether or not his or her elected official was truly representing and serving  the citizens of his or her district. As was promised. And sworn. Bloody marvelous.

There are only 435 elected officials in the House of Representatives. There are only 100 elected officials in the Senate. All told there are 535 elected officials determining the fate of this great country -- the same number of human beings one would find in a local high school. Wouldn't it be marvelous if everyone of voting age in this country could have a daily peek into the machinations of their elected officials? Wouldn't it be marvelous if all the members of the House and the Senate never again had to go to Washington and be prodded and victimized by those pesky lobbyists? Mrs. Teabody thinks it would be.

This digital age is truly remarkable. Mrs. Teabody was able to purchase wallpaper border, merchandise hang tags, and a birthday book for her dear auntie.  She was also able to register her brother's canoe and  look into purchasing a firearm. She was not able, however, to help a disabled elderly person get a photo ID to vote in the upcoming election. Won't it be wonderful when she can?