Representative government in Indiana will look drastically different next year. Or will it?

Four of the state's nine U.S. House members from Indiana will not seek reelection this year. Districts currently represented by Reps. Larry Buschon, Jim Banks, Greg Pence, and Victoria Spartz will all get new House members next year. The question is: How will that matter?

None of these departing members spent any time, to quote "Hamilton," in "The Room Where It Happens." None chaired a committee or were on track to do so. I consume an abundance of national media on Washington politics, and only in the rarest of circumstances would any of these soon-to-be retirees appear there.

Now, media appearance frequency is no way to measure value, but extended periods of radio silence should cause people back home to wonder: Is my representative representing me?

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