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How can you hope to change democracy with only 1 member out of 435?

Aren't US Representatives supposed to represent their district, not the country as a whole? Why would voters in a district vote to reduce their representation?

This sounds a bit like Jury Team, which fought the recent European elections in the UK and came 14th, gaining no seats.

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Excellent questions. Yes, 1 member out of 435 is a drop in the bucket - the goal would not be to control the congress, but to give people a reason to care about the issues, and a reason to engage in discussion and debate that encompasses all sides of an issue, rather than gravitating to radical punditry and entrusting the entire decision-making process to politicians.

A friend derisively described this idea as "American Idol for democracy", and that rings somewhat true, but is it a bad thing? Wouldn't it be a good thing if the average American knew as much about the current goings-on in congress as they already know about the current goings-on in American Idol?

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