>Let's put it this way, if I voted for (and paid the salary of) a Senator who just downloaded and read stuff, whether he really did it or a staffer did, I wouldn't vote for him again.

And that's just the beginning - check whether he or she is really watching what's going on in the body into which they were elected.

>The system I'm describing is for facilitating 1) active participation by the representatives and b) gathering and analysis of that participation by the represented.

And that's next thing to be checking. A promise tracking system would also be cute :).

>A better idea indeed, for an ideal and futuristic population. I'm surprised that if you truly think this is a better idea (and not just a good idea for a story) that you would not be favorable of my suggestion, which is really a baby step toward yours.

I didn't mean to be unfavorable - I'm just aware that whatever is proposed, or put into place, everyone involved would be looking for loopholes in it... so my reflex is to think how to circumvent them from the outset. So if your elected representative is running a virtual office, I want to know how can I know who's actually running that office. The problem of virtual personae.