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Journal Abm0raz's Journal: Poll (inspired by Em) 9

Journal by Abm0raz

How SHOULD politicians vote on laws?

A. According to their conscience/beliefs

B. According to their party affiliation's beliefs

C. According to how they perceive their constituants would vote were they allowed.

D. Whichever lobbyist group pays them the most.

-Ab

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Poll (inspired by Em) More

Poll (inspired by Em)

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  • C (Score:2)

    by Patik ( 584959 ) *
    Congressmen are supposed to represent the citizens and no one else. It's a shame they don't. Executive positions like the president don't have to represent the citizens, so they can rely on their conscious or whatever else.
  • We elect individuals based on how we perceive their beliefs to be. Ideally, A and C would be the same.
  • They should vote according to a clearly laid-out set of principles which they indicated during the election campaign would govern their voting. This should be more specific than (and not necessarily always aligned with) B and not as impulsive/unstructured as A could imply. These principles should set clear parameters which will allow the constituents to see whether s/he is behaving as promised, but allow for consideration of each issue on its merits rather than establish the vote before the legislation is e
  • We had a good case of this earlier this year. When the Senate tacked the Assault Weapons Ban renewal onto the Gun Lawsuit bill, Senator George Allen (R-VA) received tons of calls to his office from constituents telling him we did NOT want the AWB renewed.

    He had said before he would probably support it, but after the volume of calls he received, he listened to us and voted against it.

    Of course, now the gun lobby is using this against him-- "one of his campaign promises was to renew the AWB and now he's

  • D. Whichever lobbyist group pays them the most.

    No, definately not. If so there is no point in having people elected, just let the companies pay for their views.

    C. According to how they perceive their constituants would vote were they allowed.

    Not directly, no. If this was the case then each issue should be voted on by the people themselves directly. Again, no need for the government except as a tabulation system.

    B. According to their party affiliation's beliefs.

    How did that differ from D?

    A. Ac
  • Representatives should be a combination of A and C.

    Senators should be a combination of A and E (where E whatever is in the interest of their state's government, which is not necessarily the same thing as the interests of the people of that state)

    Well, that's how the senate SHOULD work. But the incredibly stupid and lame 17th amendment just turned senators into representatives without bothering to convert the congress into a unicameral legisalture that would better reflect the method of congress critters

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