The Commuter Congress

From Thomas:

Our recent discussion about the polarization of Congress reminded me of an article that I read a few years ago discussing the Commuter Congress, and after a bit of searching I was able to find it. Over the past few decades, a trend has developed where fewer members of Congress are choosing to live in D.C. This is partially due to the decreased cost of travel and increased demand for politicians to be more in touch with their constituents, and largely due to extremely high living costs in D.C. This phenomenon has deepened the divide between members of opposing parties in Congress. Historically, the families of Congressional members lived close to each other, which meant that their children might go to school or play sports together, and their spouses would do charity work together, but now that has all been eliminated. As a result of less opportunities to form social relationships outside of day to day congressional activities, it is much easier for members of Congress to disrespect one another because it will have no impact on their social lives.

Below is the article which talks about this in more depth.

After rereading the article I wonder if the US government should start incentivizing members of Congress to move back to D.C. with the hopes of making national politics less polarized and thereby enabling progress in our legislative system, or are the benefits of having your representative constantly check in on his/her constituents so worthwhile that the current trend should be left to continue on its course?




https://www.newsweek.com/no-more-washington-wives-and-its-our-loss-66761