How Does One Vote?
The now-famous Al Franken addresses his constituents video starts out with this question:
Are you going to vote the way the people want, the people who elected you, are you going to vote their voice, or are you going to vote how Obama wants you to vote?
And Franken's response:
I'm going to vote the way I want to vote. Now let me tell you how I decide to vote: I use my independent judgment and I just don't always go by polls.
We hear a lot these days about "the people want this according to national polls" and "Dems should line up together". We also hear about politicians voting merely to get re-elected which is sort of a take about voting how people want, but now the people are his local constituency.
Was wondering if people here at TPM would be siding up with Franken if they thought he were against the public option or single payer.
In an ideal world, how would you want your elected rep to vote in general? Are polls a good rational? Is party unity? Or should they politicians think more broadly?
