Burke is possibly best-known for his argument that voters choose representatives for their judgment and not just automatically to take the positions that the majority of voters want.
"his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. ... Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion"
One of the reasons this statement is well-known is because it's quoted by one of the delegates in the musical 1776 to justify voting in favor of independence.
Burke would say that if the voters find their representative's judgment intolerable, they're free to kick him out at the next election. So it should be no surprise that, at the next election after Burke said this, the voters kicked him out.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2020-01-16 02:50 am (UTC)"his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. ... Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion"
One of the reasons this statement is well-known is because it's quoted by one of the delegates in the musical 1776 to justify voting in favor of independence.
Burke would say that if the voters find their representative's judgment intolerable, they're free to kick him out at the next election. So it should be no surprise that, at the next election after Burke said this, the voters kicked him out.