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Concept of political representation
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House members serve to be representatives voted into office from around the country to represent the populations from which they come from. As described in the textbook, “representation refers to an elected leader’s looking out for his or her constituents while carrying out the duties of the office” (Krutz et al., 421). These constituents must vote continuously reach out to their representative for their ideas to be heard and better represented. It may come to no surprise though that often the representative may not consider the ideas of others or there may be conflicting demands. There are many ways the representative may feel of their duty whether it be a trustee, delegate, or mix of the two. The delegate model of representation is a representative that feels as delegate of the peoples wishes. After identifying the people’s views, he/she must then vote aligned to those views. In this model, the representative can’t act upon his own views. Then there’s the trustee model of representation where the representative feels to be trusted by his or her constituents to make the best decisions. “In the modern setting, trustee representatives …show more content…
Too often, I think representatives are concerned with re-election like David Mayhew’s views that advertising, credit claiming, and position taking behaviors are broadcasted for their re-election. As described in Congress: The Electoral Connection, “Some political actors follow committee activities closely and mobilize electoral resources to support deserving member” (Mayhew, 182). The representative should ideally take into consideration your ideas, but thoroughly consider all the other impacts that may have. As discussed in lecture two, the citizen may think it sounds good, but it may end up hurting them in the long run. “We are now Members for a rich commercial City; this City, however, is but a part of a rich commercial Nation” (Burke,
The excerpt “Congress: The Electoral Connection” written by David Mayhew centers around the fundamental arguments that discusses how members of congress are self-interested for reelection. Mayhew further elaborates on his idea by discussing the electoral activities that congress members devote their time into and resource from, which are advertising, credit-claiming, and position taking. Mayhew’s excerpt further examines the framework in how congress operates which contributes to the explanation of how and why congress partakes in the certain electoral activities.
It is not uncommon to find members of Congress who have genuine goals of spearheading, designing or even just supporting good public policy. It would be harsh to say that every member of Congress is against good policy. However what is difficult for members of Congress is deciding what is more important, the wishes of their constituents or national policy. Although it is rare, members of Congress vote against the popular opinion of his or her district in order to make what would be considered good policy in the national interest. This hinders their chance of re-election but is necessary for America. In very rare cases members of Congress have gone against the wishes of their constituents for moral reasons like in the aftermath of 9/11. When voting on the 2002 Iraq War Resolution, I am certain that the last thing of the minds of members of Congress was re-election. A very conservative House of Representatives member Jimmy Duncan said ‘‘when I pushed that button to vote against the war back in 2002, I thought I might be ending my political career.” In times of crisis members of Congress have decide between what is right, not what their constituents believe is right. Another goal other than re-election that members of Congress have is their own future. For many, being a members of The House of Representatives is a mere stepping stone in their career on the way to better things. Therefore for some members of Congress, re-election does not worry them and gives them the freedom to act in an environment striped of the constant pressure of re-election. However, considering that most of the members of The House Of Representatives goals lie within the Senate or high executive positions, re-election is still on their mind, all be it in the form of a different
In his article, “Homestyle,” Richard Fenno seeks to answer one question: How does an elected representative's view of his/her district affect his or her political behavior? To answer this question, Fenno identifies what a Member of Congress’s
Members of congress have three specific goals. The one that seems to be the most important
In the past century, people continued to express an increasingly discontent view of Congress especially true when one looks back before the Clinton Impeachment debacle As the size of the nation and the number of congressman have grown, the congress has come under attack by both public influences and congressman themselves. Yet looking at one congressman's relationship with his or her constituents, it would be hard to believe that this is the branch of government that has come under suspect. In “If Ralph Nader says congress is 'The broken branch,' how come we love our congressman so much?” author Richard F. Fenno, Jr., provides insight into this view and why, through congress coming under fire, constituents still feel positively about there congressmen. Although congress is often criticized, its fine tuned functioning is essential in checking the power of congress without hindering the making of legislation.
The three theories of representation in Congress are: delegate, trustee, and politico. First is the delegate model of representation is the philosophy that legislators should represent the preferences of their constituents. Next is the trustee model of representation is the philosophy that legislator should consider the will of the people but act in ways they perceive best for the long term interest of the nation. Finally, is the politico model of representation it is a mixture of the two, it is delegate on which constituents have intense views, and trustee on issues that are important for national interests.
Representation: the effort of elected officials to look out for the interests of those who elect them
In conclusion, even though some of the Congress processes and its structure seem to be made to slow things down and to reduce effectiveness, they exist to, as discussed in class, protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. After all, one of the main objectives of having a government is to create a balanced society, and to reduce the chances of having social convulsion and anarchy.
...o keep their jobs, Congress members must please the majority of a state and in the nation. Citizens are the people who help campaign and vote to re-elect you or have someone take your job. Members when voting must remember that and consider voting in favor of what the majority in their state wants even if he or she disagrees. If they do not listen to state residents who are the voters, this can lead to someone sitting down in their former seat.
In conclusion, Congressional representatives should be limited to serving two terms. Limiting the terms of career politicians will promote fresh ideas and reduce the possibility of decisions being made for self-interest. It is in our Country’s best interest that our legislator’s decisions are equitable and that compromises are not made to ensure their own or their parties stay in office.
The legislative branch of government is a complex system that is separated into two branches, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both which have different tasks. The favored branch of the public is the House of Representatives because the people feel that they can relate more with their congressmen then their senators. This is another important aspect of the role that congressmen have, representing their constituents. Congressmen are elected to be the voice of their constituency and people rely on them to get their issues heard and resolved. In the book, Lee Hamilton speaks of a gentleman named Wilbur Mills, who is a powerful legislator from Arkansas. As they were walking in D.C he spoke of how he was going to some small town in Arkansas to hold a public meeting with about twenty people. He told Hamilton, "Lee, don't ever forget your constituents. Nothing, nothing comes before them." (p.53) It is very important for congressmen to keep in touch with their constituents, not only are they the people that are keeping them in office but also they are the people that are counting on him/her to voice their thoughts and concerns.
The house of representatives which is apart of congress has many different responsibilities.To be ablt to become part of the House you have to be at twenty-five years in age and citizen of the U.S for at least seven years.One of the many roles that The House is that they have the right to trial an impeachment. So what this means is that if they feel like the president is in the wrong for doing something really bad which he shouldn't have been doing the House is able to say that they want to put the president on trial to take him out of office.These are a few of the responsibilities the House of Representatives have.
In a democratic government, functions of representation can sometimes become skewed or misunderstood. I will examine the different institutions of government, including the legislature, the executive, the bureaucracy, and the courts, pointing to their differences in trustee vs. delegate functions of representation. My understanding of a trustee is that it is someone in a position of power deciding what is best without a direct mandate. In other words, someone who is carrying out the wishes of the constituents when feasible, as well as acting motivated by what he or she feels or thinks is in the best interest of the community as a whole. A delegate function, on the other hand, is one that mandates representation of the constituency.
Giving each voter a specific representative is extremely important. Doing so helps to encourage constituency service by providing voters with an easily identifiable “ombudsman.” Voters feel like they are well represented and can go to their congressman (or whoever their representative may be) with questions and requests, and their representative will understand them because he or she is “one of them.” Having a specific representative also helps people to avoid the worry that they don’t have any say in who governs them. Likewise, more individuals will tend to vote because people are voting for an actual person rather than a group or a party.
Dahl's Who Governs the House? expresses the pluralist belief that the The political arena is an open system where everyone may participate and express grievances, which in turn lead to decision making. Those who propose alternatives and initiate issues which contribute to the decision making process. demonstrate observable influence and control over those who fail. together to express any interest in the political process.