The Economy of Active Representation To be heard is True Democracy, to be Represented is the Truth of Democracy Participatory Government: Every 4 years a president is voted in to office, where every 6 years it is for a senator, and for a member of the house of representatives it is 2 years. There is a wisdom in this when it comes to the communication between the constituents and their representatives; where at a minimum, if the Representative only spoke with his/her constituents would be at least every 4, 6 and 2 years respectively. From the standpoint of a Senator from say California before the mid 1900's this would work out quite well. Today, in addition to such networks as C-SPAN, all Senate members, and members of the House of Representatives have web sites, with web-form email for the constituent to voice input. Due to the assumed 1,000's of emails that each receives, based on subject the email can be sorted for review by office aids to communicate what is considered relevant to the member of congress. In observing Congress over the past few years on the floor of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and in their committees, and sub-committees, rarely does one hear that "This is what my Constituents want" as opposed to "This is what I feel is best for my Constituents." Since the 20th Century, an entity that has become known as the Lobbyist has taken on a major role in the direction of decisions, as well as the focus of issues that members of Congress vote on.  This is common accepted practice, where prior to the 20th century the Lobbyist practice as considered unethical and punishable by incarceration. The most prominent lobbying bodies today are Munitions / Defense; Closed Door Energy Policy Manipulation; Health Care and Pharmaceuticals; and in predatory consumer lending practices such as in unregulated credit card business and banking regulation. It takes a lot of money in order to run for government office, which explains the appeal of the Lobbyist, where constituents cannot be expected to pay the bill; and also can explain why there are so few political parties have any real viability. This issue is called Election Reform which is discussed elsewhere under Lobbist Reform. For Hearing The Constituents Voice: Technically and ethically, the member of Congress is supposed to represent the Constituents Voice; which is not to come second to that of the Lobbyist. This can be accomplished in a cost affective manner thanks to the Web and Email. Definition of a Republic: "A government in which supreme power is held by the citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives governing according to law" The following is what is proposed for hearing the Constituents Voice on a timely basis and clearly for representation A- Email Notifications of Issues: Although the members of congress do post their issues on their Web sites, and as one of the 1'000's of constituents you can receive email notifications from your representatives ( what they choose to send you ) and can voice an email opinion for some one to look at, There is no real reason that for every registered constituent that does provide an email address, that a issue to be discussed , or voted on in the houses of Congress cannot go out ahead of time in Email to constituents for their awareness of the issue, and the position that their representative will be taking on the issue, as opposed to already having voted on the issue, for the opinionated various  reasons. A1-The Heads Up Email : This instills far more interest by the constituent than just giving them the one Vote per constituent during election time if that's what we really want in our Government representation. More over for the voting record of the Representative, this too can be provided via a simple link in the Email to the respective official voting Records Web Page for both houses. We could argue that this is not cost effective and that the constituent has put their trust in the representative to have the constituents best interest in mind, but I contend that it is far more cost effective to notify constituents prior to voting for the following reasons. Reaffirms respect for the Constituent in offered the awareness that they are considered besides just during Election times It prevents Bills and Omnibus Bills from being pushed through Congress in Midnight sessions Reinforces the significance, importance and trust of the representative in doing their job on behalf of the constituent Enables the Representative to obtain support for an amendment that the Representative wishes to make on a Bill Offers business opportunities to Email Campaign Technology Provision business in GSA contracts B-Representatives must be required to post on their Websites all related accounting detail that includes expenses that are accounted for as expenditures and related balances while in office and to document cross referenced sources of identified funds. This is regardless of being related to operational, subsidized directly or indirectly by Tax dollars, and / or Campaign based. This is to also account for Soft Dollar incentives such as from any and all Lobbyist related actiuviies including paid trips or any kind or otherwise benefits that can be construed as gifts. Demonstrates Honesty, Transp[arency and Accountability Provides Contsituent Awareness of related costs, and budget competance of Representative It exonerates the Representative from any concerns of influence peddling by Lobbyists C-Voter / Constituent Polling: Based on Email Campaign and Web Technology can easily establish voting on a per issue bases, that can offer significant lead time for a Representative to know the position that they must take in order to represent the majority of their constituents. Benefits are: Timely Representation and Awareness of Constituents interests, needs, and positions Requires Clarification of Representative if he/her differs from the Majority of Constituents Can provide public Graphical Display of Constituents for both Representatives, and constituents Provides Active Participation of Constituents in the Governments Decisions Easily Implemented with existing technology Enables Debate to be more focsed on behalf of Constituents Enables Clearer Representation to the President of Senate and House positions> Orion Karl Daley Balanced Party Presidential Candidate  for 2008