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"Congress: The Electoral Connection" by David R Mayhew
The Congressman's primary goal is to get reelected.
Their "electoral needs" are serviced well by the structural institutions
of Congress:
- There is very little zero-sum conflict in Congress, so congressmen can
make headway for their constituents' issues without infringement
- Congressional offices provide a useful base of operations for campaign
management and for developing platform/research. Staffed evenly.
- Committees act severally
- Position-taking committees: let congressmen claim platform
- House Un-American Activities Committee
- House Education and Labor Committees
- Foreign Policy Committee
- Particularized benefits:
- Diffuse cost, concentrated benefits (taxes -> farm, e.g.)
- Usually universalist: everyone gets their share of spending on
urban renewal, or tax cuts, or public works
- Divide up labor and allow credit-claiming:
- "I put that bill through committee"
- "That was my amendment."
- Also allows speaking on the floor based on bills
- Parties
- Fluid bodies that help with bloc-making.
- Party leaders are brokerers and agenda-setters
- But individual congressmen "vote their constituencies."
Edmunk Burke's Speech to the Electors of Bristol
He wasn't elected by the people, instead by his friends in the
government, since the people don't have a vote and power flows from the
crown.
But he does feel responsible to the people in a half-related sense.
He will deeply consider their issues and consider their opinions with
weight, but he will exercise his own judgment for he believes the
parliament is a body of deliberation, not inclination.
Burke also believes that national weal takes a front seat to local
interests, so he is also disconnected from his voters in that way.
The American system somewhat models this, but is now more direct.
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