Should an elected official's first loyalty be to his party/president or to the voters?

Question

And what if the two should conflict? I'd like to hear your opinions.

Answer 1

To the voters. No elected official should have loyalty to a party or the president. If they do then they aren't american....which means FOR THE PEOPLE.

All the idiot GOP's out their that try to defend GWB in 10 years are going to come back and say they think he was the worst president and how they plan to bring back the GOP to national prestige. Hypocrites all of them. Hang them all I say.

Answer 2

The design is not in sync with reality.

When the election system was established, the idea was that every vote counted.

Through it's metamorphosis, women and slaves soon received equal weight at the ballot box. Equality is now transformed into those with the big bucks persuade the elected officials, and the bulk of the voters go through the motions, all the while having hardly any voice in the way they are to be governed.

In simpler words, your vote doesn't count as much as it should. It determines who will occupy the political space, but it dies as soon as that person takes office.

You ask about loyalty. This is hardly seen anymore, nor is that word meaningful.

The two party system has worked for a long time, but there seems to be too many similarities among both parties, and it could be that each party puts on a show, but actually works for the causes of those who supply the needed funding for the election process.

In other words, the buck rules over everything else.

It should be that those who make the effort to go out and vote, should have a say as to what should be spent that will inflate the ntaional debt and place burdens on the future.

Instead, the national debt has been exploited for causes we hardly understand.

I suggest all who write here should also write to their elected officials.

Answer 3

An elected offical's first loyalty should be to the voters and the territory they are responsible for, acting in accordance with what would be best for their district and their constituents at all times.

I have no problems with a politician breaking ranks if what they're doing is in the best interest of the territory they are responsible for.

Answer 4

nicely, maximum individuals are christians, so maximum probable they'll want a christian chief. additionally christian suggestions are reliable suggestions morally. Race does not count that plenty now that its 2010. we've shown that by using electing Obama. human beings in many cases view men because of fact the extra chief-form than females (thats merely how that's). to respond to, specific I do think of human beings take this into attention. i might say quite often faith and then intercourse, and then race being the least seen. as an occasion, i don't think of we will have a muslim president every time quickly.

Answer 5

Voters

Answer 6

If elected officials only pandered to the wants of the voters we would be in a real mess.

Look what happened with Clinton and Al Quaeda - Clinton only did what was popular with the voters but not what needed to be done.

Another example is the Balkans - it was popular with the voters and now we are in a never-ending quagmire.

Answer 7

an elected official's (federal office i assume) should first have their loyalty to the united states.

second they should have loyalty to their state/district.

third they should have loyalty to their constituents.

why do i put constituents last, because the public doesn't always know what's best for themselves.

Answer 8

1. His first loyalty is to his country!
2. His second loyalty is to his state.
3. His third loyalty is to his constituents.

This is my opinion only. There are plenty of politicians who don't behave according to how I think they should -- for example, those who pack "pork" into "riders" -- benefiting constituents at the expense of state or country.

Answer 9

Their loyalty should be to the voters who put them in office. Even JFK said, "Sometimes party loyalty asks too much."

Answer 10

Their loyalty should be to the majority in their perspective districts. I think most are misguided and only do things that benefit themselves. What is good for the country is lost. They work for us damn it and we should hold them responsible at election time.