I think the real story is we elect the candidates that do the best job of convincing people that they are aligned with their wishes and values, but those wishes

I think the real story is we elect the candidates that do the best job of convincing people that they are aligned with their wishes and values, but those wishes and values proclaimed by the politician are, at best, only a very noisy proxy for how they will vote and, at worst, entirely fabricated for the sole purpose of winning votes