Rep. Darrell Issa, Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is a popular figure on political talk shows, blogs and the pages of newspapers due to his vocal stance on many issues related to the Committee. Today, he published an op/ed in Politico regarding more -- and easier -- transparency in government due to Facebook and other "direct digital democracy." Read an excerpt here:

Advances in technology have brought new transparency to our democracy. Americans can interact with federal officials in real time. Citizens use Twitter and Facebook to have unfiltered conversations with their elected representatives — anytime and anywhere.

These innovations in direct digital democracy have increased government’s openness and accountability and lowered the barriers between public servants and the people they serve.

The challenge for policymakers is to ensure that these rapidly evolving transparency tools do not have the unintended consequence of allowing officials to hide their actions from public scrutiny and the historical record.

Read the rest here.