Politicians always do a two-step, depending on what their district politics looks like.
Parliamentarians would prefer to follow the path of least resistance and vote for the myths that the public opinion polls show their constituents believe in, instead of taking the trouble to educate themselves and their constituents.
What is the use of being elected or reelected unless you stand for something?
If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me. While acting as their representative I shall be governed by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is.
Then running for reelection as a state legislator.
My only loyalty is to what's best for business, not to any set of constituents.
We're representing our districts. I make decisions on my district.
Representatives of Congress come to Washington representing their districts, but they don’t necessarily understand the complexities of the world.
There's a big gap between public opinion polls and the vote in Washington, in Congress.
If you're a representative, you listen to your constituents, and then you go vote their conscience. You don't go vote your special interest buddies' interest and then come back and justify it.
They [Congressmen] may ... consult and prefer the interests of their particular constituents when they come in conflict with any other particular or local interest, yet it is their first or highest duty, as representatives of the United States, to promote the general good.
In reference to nullification of the Tariff Act of 1832:
As the governor of this state, I obviously see the issue quite differently.
I'm happy to work with Democrats. After all, they have to represent their districts just as I have to represent mine.
What is important to me is that I'm not accountable to and not controlled by party leadership. At the end of the day, I'm able to make my own decisions according to what's best for the community and the constituents I represent. It doesn't depend on what the partisanship is to the right or to the left.
I don't really worry what outside groups who score votes think. My job is to represent the people.
I will support my party when they are right on an issue, but am not afraid to stand up to party bosses who are not looking out for the best interests of my constituents and our country.
Aren't we supposed to believe that if you are an elected official, if you serve in Congress, you are representing all the people of your district not just the people who voted for you, not [just] the people who you agree with?
Politicians do what they hear from the American people.
I don't go to Washington to represent the president; I go to represent the people of this district.
My job as governor is different from the legislators. They represent their districts. I have to represent all 6.6 million Tennesseans and come to the best decisions I can.
Typically, members of Congress don't just hear a story about a program and indicate whether they support it or not.
Tax reform has been a congressional priority for decades. It should be a bipartisan issue. I don't know why anyone in Congress would want their constituents to pay more.
I speak for the people I represent, so yes, my voice is heard. One reason they elected me is that their own individual voices may not be heard.
Professional politicians are busy looking out for their jobs. Send me to Congress so I can look out for your job.
You can be president of the United States and have the best, most bipartisan-seeming idea in the world. But if it doesn't have a constituency, you might as well be town clerk of Toad Suck, Arkansas.
Like anything, I remember who I work for. You work for the people who sent you to office.