Right now, with all of the conversations about ethics in Georgia, there are two tracks that the ethics reform conversation is happening on: more intense disclosure and transparency rules and rules about gifts from lobbyists.

But there are other conversation that just aren't occurring. I am surprised that the public hasn't pressured politicians to explore the relationship between donated campaign money and influence on policymakers. Though I am ambivalent about the idea of term limits, I am shocked that that idea hasn't bubbled into the public discourse.

Though I am surprised that those two conversations have not arisen, there is another conversation that I don't think will ever arise but in my opinion is the most significant variable: citizens feeling able to extend their political will into the legislature so that the will of special interests does not overpower the voice of citizens (though special interests also represent citizens and should be able to have their voice heard, too).

In a country where people feel confused about what health reform does and doesn't include, can we expect citizens to be able to keep tabs on their county commissioner, county chairman, attorney general, city councilman, mayor, Secretary of State, Insurance & Fire Safety Commissioner, Lt. Governor, state senator, state representative, governor, agricultural commissioner, labor commissioner, superintendent, and every other elected official?

I can't help but wonder whether citizens have so much on their civic "plate" that their elected representatives feel more beholden to the lobbyists than to their constituents.

Maybe that means we need a more robust local journalism or maybe that means constituents should just have to vote for one legislator instead of a state senator and state representative, but there needs to be a recalibration of how our government represents its citizens so that its citizens may be able to develop and have implemented their political will in Georgia.