Perhaps we should go back to the days just after the Revolution when it took days to travel to Washington, New York, or Philadelphia, depending on where they were meeting. If Congresscritters had to go to their session via horseback, covered wagon, or carriage, instead of private super jet (like Pelosi), they might have time to look around at the country and ponder what they are doing to us. They could even talk to people along the way. All their staffs should be cut in half, for starters. No limos. No servents for their houses. No groundskeepers. Let them live like normal people for a change.
Don't hold your breath, although I agree with the sentiment. However, you remind me of something that occurred in Texas in the 80s that sorta ties in with the elitist ideas of our political class.
In the mid-60s, Texas enacted a set of "blue laws" establishing a hodge-podge of ignorance that stipulated what could and could not be sold on Sundays. The list was just dumb - for example, you could buy baby formula, but not diapers. You could buy a hammer, but not nails - stupid stuff. Texans hated it from the git-go and began a battle with the state legislature to have the blue laws repealed (the legislature wouldn't budge). In the 80s (I think, maybe the late 70s), a newly elected governor proposed an Initiative and Referendum bill so that the citizens could bring issues to the ballot box if they could get enough legitimate signatures on their petitions. The legislature voted it down. Afterward, one legislator (from the Houston area) stated that the reason the legislature voted against the bill was because they "didn't want that kind of power in the hands of the people".
Astonishingly, NO ONE picked up on what he said! In a government of, by and for the people, the representatives of that government "didn't want that kind of power in the hands of the people". That attitude is still prevalent in our elected officials. They don't know who they work for.