Does An Elected Representative

[DemocratSinceBirth]

base his or her vote squarely on his or her own judgement and conscience?


base his or her vote purely on the will of his constituents as best as can be divined by polls?


or

a combination of the two which incorporates the will of his or her constsituents and his or her own conscience and judgement

[XNASA]

1. This is an oversimplification, but.............

base his or her vote squarely on his or her own judgement and conscience?--------- By definition, that is a Republican.


base his or her vote purely on the will of his constituents as best as can be divined by polls?--------By definition, that is a Democrat.


Of course, there are varying degrees of both, but that's how it basically is.

[Bluzmann57]

2. The idea is that they are supposed to work for us

so their votes better be based on the constituency. Granted there are issues which he or she will not feel morally correct in voting for or against, but overall, the majority should rule. After all, this is allegedly the "land of the free" and a Democracy.

[Davis_X_Machina]

3. Edmund Burke...

...in his address to the Bristol electors over two hundred years ago had one answer.

But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

I know Burke is something of a conservative poster boy, but the argument he makes is worth consideration.

[Brian Sweat]

4. The idea behind a Representative Democracy

is that the Representatives do what is right in spite of the mob mentality of the voters.

The reality tends to be that they do what is right for their biggest campaign doners.

[redeye]

5. It's always a combination

Rule of thumb: The world is never black and white - it's usually a contiuum between 45% gray and 55% gray.

Some politicians do what they think is right more often than not, e.g. Wellstone and Lieberman; others do what the constituency thinks is right more often than not, e.g. Hillary and Daschle.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Ahhhhhhhh-The Conviction Politician

[redeye]

7. Huh?

Lieberman, FYI, votes his conscience, mostly. The fact that his conscience is fanatically religious and neo-conservative is beside the point.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. We Agree 100%

Lieberman, Wellstone, Reagan, Goldwater,

were all conviction polticians....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. edited -wrong thread

[nemo137]

9. don't we have it set up here in the states

where we have both a Trustee system (option one) in the senate, and a Delegate system (option two) in the house?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. The Senate Is Designed To Be The Break

on raw majoritarianism.