Incumbent Congressional members are re-elected to their seats at a rate of approximately 99%, and that is on the basis of name recognition. That is, most people have no idea what their Congress members are doing and, when they go into the voting booth, simply cast their vote for the candidate whose name sounds most familiar to them -- and this, of course, favors the incumbent. This is a major problem because members of Congress know that once in office, their seats are safe regardless of whether the bills they draft and the votes they cast are in the best interest of their constituency. In this case, the only check that is in place to ensure that members of Congress are doing their duty, which is to serve the best interests of the people, is typically inactive. If Congressional members are not held accountable for the politic actions they take while in office, then they will have no incentive to serve the public's interests, and if they are not serving the public's interests, then we will not have a government that is "for the people." If the people are not paying attention to what their Congressional members are doing so that they will have the knowledge necessary to cast a wise vote, then we can't claim that the government is "by the people," either. The system cannot be a true democracy if we the people aren't keeping track of our politicians and holding them accountable by the use of votes rooted in knowledge. People pay less attention to their Congress members and their elections than to the President and presidential elections because they are under the misconception that these local politicians are unimportant and irrelevant, though the reality is that local politicians have the ability to have a larger impact on individuals than does the President. I think this misconception is in part due to how little media coverage is devoted to Congressional members and Congressional elections in comparison to the amount of coverage given to the President and presidential elections. I appreciate that DMI is taking action to provide the public with a simple method of finding all of the information necessary to make a knowledgeable vote for a Congressional election. Now it's up to the public to take the next step and take advantage of this opportunity to keep better track of our local politicians.