What is representation? How do we know it when we see it?
I would like to see a United States congress filled with House and Senate members that represent their constituencies to the best of their ability. Actual political representation is seen when a constituency is happy with the choices their elected official has made on their behalf. I see this best played out by electing politicians based on whether they have represented their constituencies best, therefore using a delegate form of political representation. The trustee form of political representation rests its success on whether the individual elected made a correct move, based off of their own judgment. Although, for an office such as President of the United States, the trustee form of government seems almost necessary. Representing every demographic of the U.S., the executive leader needs to be able to make decisions based off of their own judgement. However in local and congressional elections, as Hannah Pitkin said, “representation is to make present again”, with a delegacy form of political representation, those elected would take into consideration their actual constituencies and make those masses present again.
An example would be the representatives from the state of Missouri. Out of Missouri’s eight representatives in the U.S. congress there are only two democratic representatives, the same two that are the only african americans. With the Ferguson riots one year passed, african american citizens are dependent on the predominately white representation that they have in congress to represent them, at a very crucial time. I’m not saying we elect our representatives based on race, I am implying that not every white representative will empathize with the struggle that it is to be a person of color in our society. Therefore, we should not elect those who cast their votes based off of their own personal views. We should allow the masses to decide what is best for our society, to a degree of social issues, social goods, and civil liberties. Accordingly, many of these issues are held at state level, therefore the delegacy form of representation would work best to elect state/local leaders, including congress.
I would like to see, not just congress members, but all politicians going into politics for the sake of representing their constituencies fairly. In the Congress: The Electoral Connection reading, Mayhew writes, “It seems fair to characterize the Congress as an assembly of professional politicians spinning out political careers. The jobs offer good pay and high prestige.” While the position of being a representative should receive compensation, I believe that treating government for personal gain to rise through the ranks will eventually result in a lost connection with their constituencies. Praise and high prestige should go to those who go above and beyond what they are expected from their position. A concrete behavior that I would like to see would be representatives frequenting their entire jurisdiction, and composing regular poll tests to see what the public opinion actually is, not just what the representative assumes, and act on it. This type of behavior is important because if representatives lose connection with their voters, then who are we voting into congress? People who can deliver a nice speech? People who see you no more than a ballot towards their paychecks?
