18 November 2005
Congressional Staffers’ Attitudes
In a recent Zogby International poll, the staff members of U.S. congressmen were shown to be out of touch with constituents on the issue of relations with China. It begs the question how distant their views are from those of the residents of their districts on other matters. More to the point, how reflective of the general public are their representatives? Does this demonstrate ignorance of their sentiments? Or is it a willful refusal to use whatever means available to discover their views and efficaciously perform that representative function?
Perhaps efficacious representation is not essential to how congressmen define their jobs in the U.S. After all, politicians are motivated to do what gets them reelected. They can’t represent the views they know if they don’t continue in office. And getting reelected is not necessarily related to efficacious representation of constituents; rather it results from effectively representing the views and interests of those whose resources and power are essential to winning elections.
The crucial role of persuasion through the media, as expensive as it is, has distorted the American political system. To be sure, people can be convinced by costly persuasion that they are being fairly represented apart from the findings of an objective analysis of their representatives’ performance.
In a recent Zogby International poll, the staff members of U.S. congressmen were shown to be out of touch with constituents on the issue of relations with China. It begs the question how distant their views are from those of the residents of their districts on other matters. More to the point, how reflective of the general public are their representatives? Does this demonstrate ignorance of their sentiments? Or is it a willful refusal to use whatever means available to discover their views and efficaciously perform that representative function?
Perhaps efficacious representation is not essential to how congressmen define their jobs in the U.S. After all, politicians are motivated to do what gets them reelected. They can’t represent the views they know if they don’t continue in office. And getting reelected is not necessarily related to efficacious representation of constituents; rather it results from effectively representing the views and interests of those whose resources and power are essential to winning elections.
The crucial role of persuasion through the media, as expensive as it is, has distorted the American political system. To be sure, people can be convinced by costly persuasion that they are being fairly represented apart from the findings of an objective analysis of their representatives’ performance.
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