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A democracy doesn't mean that the representatives you elect must always and only follow the will of the constituency: "Your representative owes you, not his ind
by gottorf 3y ago
A democracy doesn't mean that the representatives you elect must always and only follow the will of the constituency: "Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."
Of course, when it comes to this particular matter of insider trading, it would seem particularly self-serving for Congress to not pass such a law with such popular support. But I want to point out that there is no broad agreement that in a "true democracy", the will of the majority is always reflected in policy.
- isaacremuant 3y agoIf you're going to go down that route, democracy is a sham in that there's little to no incentive for an elected official at a high level to represent their constitutients since they do better by representing their donors/lobbyists/political partners and paying lip service right before election times. Accusing their opposition of "being terrible, so you have to vote me" work wonders too, if they're able to convince people that false dichotomies are real.