Elected Officials Representation
As a senator, my primary role is to represent and protect the interests of the members of the society to the government. The benefits of society members should be considered well during the process of law-making in parliament. Most of the programs that the president approves usually aim at serving the interests of the nation. For example, in the scenario given, the president forms a defense spending reform package whose main objective is to serve the interests of the whole country. In this case, a critical part of the package reform is to cut down some of the military bases that are not of any help to the government and diverting the same finances into those programs that protect the security of the whole nation.
As a senator, if called upon to vote for the president’s idea of forming the reform package, I would disagree with him, and therefore, I will not vote in support of his approach. This is because the idea of forming the program will contribute to the closure of some of the enormous naval bases that belong to the constituents. The closing of the military bases will make several citizens lose jobs which will eventually slow down the state’s economy.
The representation function for most of the legislators is known to cause a lot of conflicts during the process of making laws. For the legislators to accomplish the representation function, they should present either trustee or delegate representation views. Legislators should achieve the representation by acting as trustees for the interests of the entire society. Legislators who serve as trustees should vote against the interests of their constituents if the needs of the nation dictate their perception or conscience. For the delegate view of representation, members of the congress should protect the opinions of their constituents. This type of image opposes the trustee view of perception.
Given the above scenario, I would act as a delegate by defending the interests of the constituents who elected me. I will protect my parts because they will be the one who will be negatively affected by the closure of the military bases. For example, many people will lose jobs following this closure; hence, arises the need to defend their interests because they elected me.
Even though the president belongs to the same political party like me, I still disagree with the idea of forming the reform program. The reason behind this is that the reform program will cost many people to lose more jobs. The state economy will also deteriorate due to a reduction in the amount of GDP earned per year. Therefore, my decision will not be influenced by the fact that the president belongs to the same political party as me.
My seniority matters a lot when deciding how to vote. As an elected senator, people expect me to represent and protect their interests to the national government. I am supposed to protect the interests of the constituents and not draw much on the benefits of the nation. Many people in society claim that they will lack jobs if the military bases are closed. The claims of the people in the society gives me much pressure which forces me to disagree with the president’s idea of forming the program. The idea of the president should not be supported to protect the rights and interests of the constituents. The constituencies will support the delegate representation view, unlike the trustee view.