Humorist Dave Barry said that the problem with elections is not the huge sums of money that are spent on them, rather, it is that the average citizen does not get any of this money.  Mr. Barry proposed that each candidate vie for the monetary affection of voters.  Ballots would state how much money each candidate would pay you for your vote.  After you vote, the voting/ATM machine would tally the cash owed and pay you on the spot.  Mr. Barry figured this would increase voter turnout and allow the average citizen to benefit.

Likewise, the problem with lobbying is not the huge sums of money spent currying favor with elected officials, but the fact that the average citizen does not benefit.  To solve this problem, I propose a cap and trade system for lobbyists.   Lobbyist Cap and Trade would make the lobbying process more democratic by allowing citizens to decide which lobbyists have access to Congress.  At the beginning of the year, allow each registered voter five temporal units.  Then let the lobbyist cap and trade auction begin on the Internet.  For one month each voter can sell their temporal units to whom ever they want.   A voter could donate their units to select causes, state how much he or she will sell the time for, or sell to the highest bidder.  When the auction is over, the money is distributed to the participating voters.  Each lobbyist submits how many units they have purchased, and Congress can allocate the time proportionally.  No congressperson can receive any lobbying money, other than what he or she received in the auction, just like any other citizen.  The amount each lobbyist spent, the temporal units they purchased, and the final allocation of time with Congress should be publicly available via a searchable on-line web application.

Congress works for us, and we should have the final say on whom they can see.  If we are going to have the best Congress that money can buy, (although I wish the results were better), it seems only fair that the average citizen receives a portion of the profits.