Open Source Government?

This is radically different from the majority of my posts here on WoaK, but I thought it was a good idea and I don't have anywhere else to put it up.

I was thinking tonight, whilst eating my "Pollo Vallarta" (Mexican grilled chicken breast with cheese and shrimp) that government should be run by civilians who put aside their vocations or careers for a year or two, go to D.C., do what needs to be done, and then go home. This way we wouldn't have career politicians making power grabs and getting corrupted by corporate and special interest groups' lobbyists. Interestingly enough, this is how our government started in the first place. Most of the Founding Fathers weren't politicians: they were men with jobs that loved their country enough to put those jobs aside and do what needed to be done for their country.

Strangely enough, this system reminded me of the Open Source community. For those that aren't familiar with Open Source, it's a group effort of largely unpaid volunteers that develops free software on a donation basis. The source code for this software is "open" or freely available to anyone that wants to download it. This creates a system where different groups and individuals balance each other out and create a system if accountability and stability. When an application is released under an Open Source license, it's dependable and honest.

What does that have to do with goernment? Simply this: if out governmental system was based more on volunteers and simple taxes (preferably the Fair Tax), then that would reduce corruption to a minimum and keep people from power grabs and feel-good policies. We as the people of this nation would have more direct control over the government, and it would work for US, not the other way around. What most people don't realize is that the taxes that the government takes are OURS, not theirs. The government is supposed to be OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people; that's something that 95% of politicians in government, nation-wide, have forgotten.

Well that's my idea: a system of government where moderately-paid, locally-selected individuals work for a couple years in a small government to make laws based on the desires of their constituents. That's how it was originally designed; why did it change anyway?