[deaux]

Was this the case from day 1 in the US?

How about day 1 in Ancient Greece? Or the French Republic?

One for our political historians. I'm sure you can stretch anywhere into "yes" or "no", but what do the relative degrees look like?

[nradov]

There was always a performative aspect to the public debates but it really escalated after C-SPAN started televising everything. In principle citizens should be able to watch their legislature in operation but the effects haven't been entirely positive.