Friday, December 12, 2008

Constitutional Thoughts

The people will be represented; they ought therefore to choose the
representatives. The requisites in actual representation are that the
representatives should sympathize with their constituents; should think as they
think; and feel as they feel; and that for these purposes should even be
residents among them.
-George Mason


This comment from George Mason, Constitutional Convention delegate from Virginia, was supposed to describe the right of the people based on Article 1, Paragraph 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution. The people had the right to be represented by someone like them, who lived in the similar circumstances with them. I cannot help but feel that this right is all but gone. I will say that I think there are numerous representatives that can claim to follow this idea, but the majority do not seem to understand it in the least. The idea of politics as a profession would probably have struck the Founders as odd. Yet that is all we seem to have at this point. Professional politicians do not seem capable of understanding the circumstances and intentions of the people they represent because they appear too focused on their own goals and ambitions.

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