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Daily, the issues are emailed to the constituency, they vote on it, the returns are tabulated and the representative votes the majority. If there is a deviation from the majority vote, the representative goes to prison. Case closed. That way the majority rules, Lobbyists are eliminated and you have a true democracy.
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There are a number of problems with this. I'll just say three of them.
1. The people do not, and can not, understand all of the complexities of every issue that comes up before every level of government. Its not a matter of the people being stupid, its a metter of the huge time commitment that this would require.
Which leads me to point number two...
2. The vast majority of people will not commit the time necessary for democracy that is any more direct then what we have now. If you look at any polls of public knowledge about government, you find that most people don't know even the most basic facts about government. Its not because information about government is hard to come by, and, again, its not because they're stupid. Its because they have better things to do then be political junkies. Only a very small segment of the population pays enought attention to make this sort of thing work. The rest simply won't participate.
Which leads to point number three...
3. Since most people have better things to do then be political junkies, this sort of government (or, indeed, any further devolution of power to "the people") would not be rule by "the people." It would be an oligarchy of political junkies, like you and me. Which would be really great for you and me, but you could hardly call it democracy. And, lets face it, political junkies are hardly representative of the rest of America. We're wealthier, more educated, and I imagine whiter.
In short, this sort of system would not bring about more democracy. It would bring about an oligarchy of educated people with a lot of time on their hands. Which is fine if thats what you're going for, but please don't call it democracy or rule by "the people".
Sorry for this horrible threadjack, it just really gets my juices up when people propose things like this.