House Republicans have launched an effort, called YouCut, where each week people are offered the opportunity to vote online or by text message on which of several spending cuts they would like to see enacted by Congress. While this particular effort has obvious political undertones and motivation, it could have interesting potential on open government from the legislative branch.

What if House leadership from both parties agreed to collect input from the American public in a real and meaningful way? Background information could be provided so people could make an informed decision among several viable options, and Congressional leaders could agree to seriously consider, if not outright approve, the citizen input. This wouldn’t necessarily allow members of Congress to shirk their responsibility to tough decision making. Rather, it could enhance opportunities to fulfill another duty – to represent the wants and needs of constituents, doing so through another method of engagement than the more typical emails/letters/phone calls to Congressional offices from people who feel most strongly about a particular issue.

What do you think? Is this a legitimate step toward open government and engagement, or just a partisan gimmick?

Nancy Scola at TechPresident also offers In Defense of “YouCut”, discussing other aspects of YouCut including quotes from Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s new media director about the program.