There seems to be a lack of press about political accountability. I seem to be the only one writing seriously about it. (If you know of others, please inform me via email or in comments, below.)

In my conversations with people, the common belief is that accountability happens in elections. Consider the possibility that almost no accountability can occur in elections. Lawrence Lessig, Represent.us, and others have identified real problems with money buying elections and influence. While they offer positive solutions that most Americans would agree with, they do almost nothing to deliver real accountability.

Instead, they merely try to remove the pressure to be accountable to moneyed interests. They blindly believe that if accountability to the wealthy is abated, politicians will magically be accountable to the people.

I’ve written before about how Americans have a blind-spot when it comes to political accountability. The views of these experts show how true it is. I have no objection to stopping corruption and giving The People more power in elections. These changes are important. But these will do almost nothing to deliver more accountability to the people.

Consider this definition of accountability:

The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner.

Do you see much of this occurring in elections? Politicians go in front of the public a lot and orate. But their goal is to broadcast and reach people, not to account for what happened with their promises. And it’s all about what will happen in the next session of Congress. Incumbents rarely talk about what they’re doing now, or what they’ll do in the next few months.

I’m not saying Lessig or Represent.us are wrong. They use the term “accountability” rarely, if at all. (It is used on a page inside the details of one of Lessig’s supported solutions.) I’m saying that accountability is vital when it comes to rejuvenating democracy. They should be advocating it.

Reprepresent.us is certainly supportive. You’ll see their support after PeopleCount goes live.

Lessig less so. In private emails, he doesn’t disagree. He believes the issues he’s addressing are vital and need focus. While I agree, I think he’s selling himself short in thinking he can’t spend an hour a week in lending his voice and reach to the cause of accountability. Still, I’m grateful for the emails he has taken the time to write. And I’ll do what I can to empower Americans to hold their members of Congress accountable for the important issues he’s championing.

And yes, there are plenty of other people who want our system fixed, but are missing this essential, and most easily provided, element.