When governmental decisions are made closer to the citizenry, rather than
in the national capital, the public is likely to keep careful track of decisions
about government services and taxes to finance them, to communicate
their concerns and interests to government representatives and officials,
and to be watchful as policies are put into practice by the government
bureaucracy. That attention is an important contributor to accountability.
Lawmakers can be part-time legislators and remain fully involved in the
local community and economy, rather than professional legislators who
live in a distant capital and connect with their districts only remotely. The
citizenry, not an external audit agency, keeps watch on the implementation
of government programs, so the feedback is immediate, not the product of
some report eventually released by specialists. Direct accountability is to
those people for whom the government services are intended and to whom
the government will be accountable in the next election. Furthermore, the
person passing a law lives in the community and must abide by that law
and suffer its consequences.