The Concept of Political Representation Essay

The first proposal, of changing the electoral system for the House of Representatives, would mean that each state is represented in proportion to its population. This entails that states with higher populations will receive more votes because they have more seats in the House. Less populous states may argue against this reform because they will have a disadvantage when it comes to voting on legislation. However, the reform also includes having each state serve as electoral districts. In this case, multi-member districts will be needed—proportional representation will require a larger district magnitude. Having these territorial subdivisions will help create an efficient legislative system because there would be less possibility of manipulating the votes—not as relevant to election results when seats are proportional. Having the votes distributed in this manner may help avoid a deadlock and therefore, allow for a faster process when passing legislation. In addition, minorities will have chance to be represented by possibly gaining a seat in a particular district—a highly populous

In his Second Treatise on Government Locke focus’ on liberalism & capitalism, defending the claim that men are by nature free and equal against the idea that God had made all people subject to a king. He argued that people have ‘natural rights’, such as the right to life, liberty, and property, that hold the foundation for the major laws of a society. He says, “…we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit.” (2nd Treatise, Chapter 2, sec 4). John Locke used this claim, that all men were naturally free and equal, for understanding the idea of a government as a result of a social contract. This is where people in the state of nature transfer some of their rights to the government in order to better guarantee the steady and comfortable enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property.

Constitution. John Locke’s belief of “life, liberty, and property” was the most influence on the American. Beside the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, and English Bill of Rights, Locke also has a great influence of limit government. Locke’s Social Contract theory was to protect the basic rights of the people, it for the right of citizens to revolt against their king. Social contract is a convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. According to Locke, the State of Nature is a state of perfect and complete liberty to behavior one's life as one best perceives fit, and free from the interfering of others. Also from Locke’s view of State of Nature, he believes it was given by

When looking how effectively a country represents its citizens, it is important to take into account the manner in which they are represented. The two main types of representation are descriptive and agency representation. Descriptive representation is the concept that those who represent the American people should not only have the same political interest, but should also mirror the demographic makeup of the people. Agency representation, which is what the United States congress looks like, is when the representation does not reflect the demographic, but they speak for their constituents’ interests in congress. The constituents are able to hold the representatives accountable and can choose not to elect them in the next term, so the representatives

Members of Congress are voted to office by their electorate as their representatives at the congress level of democracy. In their capacity, they may decide to exercise their powers by the will of the people or according to their personal judgment. When the members of Congress opt to be the people’s delegate, their actions in the House and other congressional engagements are a reflection of the will of their district. As such, the delegate representative does not have or exercise the autonomy to represent and decide for their district. Instead, a strenuous consultation process is required to keep the people in control of all relevant decisions.

Daniel Hoover Professor Jack Citron/ Joseph Warren Political Science 1 September 22nd, 2015 The Constitution is not a Democratic Document The U.S. Constitution revolutionized the American political system, and shaped world history by inspiring other states to imitate its protection of civil liberties in the later adopted Bill of Rights, checks and balances between branches within the federal government, and guarantees to state governments. For the purpose of this paper, it is essential to analyze the Constitution in its early form because it established the conditions from which our federal republic has evolved. In addition, the Constitution of December 15th, 1791, the date when the promised Bill of Rights was added, best reflects the intentions

the right to choose representatives belongs not to the States, but to the people. ... Following

The article Rethinking Representation, written by Jane Mansbridge, explains how there are three different forms of representation apart from the traditional idea of “promissory” representation. Promissory representation is the traditional model of representation. It focuses on the idea that during a representative’s campaign they make promises to their constituents. During the representative’s time in office, these promises are either kept or not fulfilled. As Mansbridge notes, within the last 20 years there has been three new forms of representation, they are anticipatory, gyroscopic, and surrogate representation.

Benjamin Bishin's subconstituency theory of representation is supported with the empirical evidence that Larry Bartels provides from his book, of which Bartels evaluates social equality and its relationship with the American government, to Bishin's observations. Ideas, such as hidden minority rule, activism, visibility's true impact on the average voter, and ideological and social groups, that Bishin describes are supported by Bartels' findings; these findings being senators responsiveness to income groups, citizen's knowledge, and voting actions and more.

These representatives’ actions helped establish the original concept of democracy, that the public population had a say in all affairs, foreign and domestic, through representatives. Democracy was seen as a term that gives people their rights, or better said, “constitutes individual freedom and the power to a voice” (“What Democracy Means To Us Today” 6 October 2011). This form of democracy did not allow for minorities to be silenced or seem less important (“What Democracy Means To Us Today” 6 October 2011). It was viewed as a freedom, as the “right to do as we choose; it is the opportunity to vote, to get any job of our choosing and to not be discriminated against due to our position at birth” (“What Democracy Means To Us Today” 6 October 2011). In 2011, thoughts of everyone being equal in everyone’s eyes was still strongly recognized (“What Democracy Means To Us Today” 6 October 2011). No matter what someone’s skin color or religious beliefs were, they still had an equal say in decisions regarding the United States, “In the past people were silenced due to their race, wealth or position at birth, under democratic states they are still given a voice with which to be heard. Under its protection all individuals are empowered to act and to speak, it does not subjugate and

Historically in America, voting has been a relatively discriminatory practice. It has limited and deprived many individuals of many diverse races, ethnicities, and walks of life from casting their votes to select the individual who they feel is most educated, and skilled to represent their interests. Not only has this been proven to be wrong by discriminating minority groups in voting, it also has proved to be a process, which minimizes the largest growing demographics in the country. Furthermore, with millennials growing to become more politically active, minority groups are becoming more politically involved than ever. Taking this into account an important question that is raised by the author William Eskridge in his book “Legislation and Statutory Interpretation” is “Would minorities be better off with more representatives who had to pay attention to their interests because they are a powerful and organized constituency, rather than with a few representatives of minority districts who specialize in protecting only their interests?” (Eskridge,Frickley,& Garrett, 2006, pp.55).

John Locke and Jean-Jacque Rousseau were both thinkers that contributed to the notion of government by social contract in their writing by expressing their ideas of the human state of nature, natural rights and human innovation. The common goal of these two and many radical idealists is to preserve our lives and create a safe, stable society that is striving for the common good. A few of the many differences include Locke’s belief that the human state of nature is not a state of war, industrialization and human evolvement is necessary and that we have natural rights; Rousseau thought that the state of nature was preferable over any government, he did not approve of technology and he believes we have no rights. The “ideal” government has been debated by many, but these two thinkers identified revolutionary concepts that were discouraged during their time.

Representative government is grounded in the Constitution. The Constitution was created to protect citizens from factious groups through the establishment of an extended republic intended to “diminish the chances that any one faction will gain majority” (Kamark & Nye 29). However, it is still possible that citizens, as the majority, will tyrannize each other (25).

Political representation is an integral part of modern liberal democracies, since they are based on equal elections of officials nominally speaking for their constituents. Although, political representation is so significant and I am, as a citizen of Germany, constantly affected by it, I never gave much thought to its definition, implications, types, and challenges. This changed after the readings on political representation setting on 20th October 15, in which we approached the concept.

In the beginning of time, there was no government to regulate man. This caused a burden on society and these hardships had to be conquered, which is when a social contract was developed. The social contract theory is "a model that addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over an individual" (Bahuleyan). It rests on the idea that every person has certain natural and evident rights, which begins from birth. This supports the physical and emotional need for cooperation and companionship. Social contract is the thought that human beings have an understanding with their government and that both sides understand and agree to their roles. James Madison stated that "Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression” (Madison). James Madison feels our governments real power is in the community majority, and the infiltration of private rights is primarily to be seized, not from the deeds of government who oppose to the sensibility of it constituents, but from actions in which the government is used as an instrument of the chief amount of the constituents. There are several different views when it comes to this subject. The best known advocates of this theory are: Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Rousseau believes that