The view is often taken that a representative is the same thing
as a delegate; that he is to have, and can honestly entertain, no
opinion that is at variance with the whims and the caprices of his
constituents. This is the very _reductio ad absurdum_ of representative
government. That it is the dominant theory of the future there can be
little doubt, for it is of a piece with the progress downward which is
the invariable and unbroken tendency of republican institutions. It
fits in well with manhood suffrage, rotation in office, unrestricted
patronage, assessment of subordinates, an elective judiciary, the
initiative, the referendum, the recall, and the rest of it. This
theory of representative institutions is the last and lowest stage in
our pleasant performance of “shooting Niagara.” When it shall have
universal recognition and assent we shall have been fairly engulfed in
the whirlpool, and the buzzard of anarchy may hopefully whet his beak
for the national carcass.
A man holding office from and for the people is in conscience and
honor bound to do what seems to his judgment best for the general
welfare, respectfully regardless of any and all other considerations.
This is especially true of legislators, to whom such specific
“instructions” as constituents sometimes send are an impertinence and
an insult. Pushed to its logical conclusion, the “delegate” policy
would remove all necessity of electing men of brains and judgment;
one man properly connected with his constituents by telegraph would
make as good a legislator as another. Indeed, as a matter of economy,
one representative could act for many constituencies, receiving his
instructions how to vote from mass meetings in each. This, besides
being logical, would have the added advantage of widening and hardening
the power of the local “bosses,” who, by properly managing the show
of hands could have the same beneficent influence in national affairs
that they now enjoy in municipal. The plan would be a pretty good one
if there were not so many other ways for the nation to go to the devil
that it appears needless.