Such a great idea – CommitteeCaller.com – and it’s even gotten play on BoingBoing. But ultimately its use would not help improve our democracy. This clever new app allows you to call every member of a congressional committee, and even rate the quality of the response.
Here’s the thing. Every citizen is represented by only one member of Congress. The other 434 members of Congress are not interested in hearing what you have to say (unless, I suppose, you’re a lobbyist or a potential contributor). They’re not supposed to be interested in what you have to say. They represent the people that live in their districts.
So if lots of people start calling lots of different congressional offices, it will simply make it harder for real constituents to get through to their own representatives’ offices. Email is already well known to be of limited utility, and Congress takes pains to filter out constituent email that doesn’t come from the actual people members represent.
Bombing Congress with calls will just cause Congress to withdraw further from public contact. And it’s withdrawn enough already.
Update: This problem came up pretty quickly in the comments on BoingBoing. Crowds. Wisdom.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.