Pros And Cons Of Members Of Congress David Mayhew

For David Mayhew Congress members are “single- minded reelection seekers”. He argues that member only think about their reelection and that it has to be reached in order to achieved other goals. He says that everything that members do revolves around their reelection and they only care about themselves. Mayhew says that there are only three actions that members of Congress can do to get themselves re-elected to Congress : credit claiming, advertising, and position taking.
The first activity is “credit claiming”, which is a belief that a Congressmen is responsible for making what is desirable form them by the government or other entity. It is not easy to claim credit since there are 535 members of congress . Each member claim credit that

they are responsible for any governmental accomplishment they can do and in doing so, put their name on it and be recognized. However, if they claim to be responsible for a legislation which helped for example to fix the economy, they will hardly believe them. First of all because this kind of accomplishment should distribute credits among more than one members since this king of accomplishment engages the support of several members. Second, it is difficult for voters to know if the claims are valid or not because of a lack of information. Those who cannot tell the difference between and invalid claim or valid claim, they will respond with skepticism. House members and Senators are engaged in credit claiming because it shows that they are doing a good job, and by doing so they think that their constituent will vote for them and they will work effectively to move up the higher electoral offices.
The second activity is “advertising”. It is defined as the try to get one’s name known by voters . The goal is to create a positive image without engaging any issues. Members will always have old voters to be reminded and also new voters to evaluate their capabilities. Advertising allow House members and Senators the ability to spread their names among voters with not limit. First of all they increase their change of reelection, but also it is an important opportunity to be know beyond the district for those who want to continue their career in the Senate.
The last activity is “position taking”. It is the fact of believing in a particular issues in which she or he will benefit from and the interest of the political actor. Position taking statements can be implicit or explicit such a statement supporting the president on a particular issue or voting against a bill. The congressmen in position taking has the role of speakers, because the idea is to make a judgmental statement and not to a rewarding job. Members of the House and Senators show to the voters which position they are taking thanks to campaigning on a particular petitions and issues, television appearances, newsletters, speeches, letters and press release. Interest groups and electorates closely observe members when voting on specifics issues. Later, they will decide to punish or reward member for their position taking. Mayhew said, the best strategy for Congress members is to be conservative in position taking. They should approach news position very carefully and stay with the position they already have and know. It will be more reasonable for them to play with new strategies if they are in electoral danger because their old one are not working.
Congress members are “single minded seekers of reelection” because member only think about their reelection. Congress is now a place where member do not try to serve people but are more looking for a political career. The three activities such as credit claiming, advertising and position taking, are a platform for reelection for House members and Senators. The structure of Congress allows members to serves needs of Congress members and to continue these activities.