Pledges Before Election May
Be Fair, Because A Pledge Given Is After All But The Answer To A
Question Asked.
A voter may reasonably desire to know a candidate's
opinion on any matter of political interest before he votes for or
against him.
The representative when returned should be free from
the necessity of further pledges. But if this be true with a House
elected by popular suffrage, how much more than true must it be with
a chamber collected together as the Senate of the United States is
collected! Nevertheless, it is the fact that many Senators,
especially those who have been sent to the House as Democrats, do
allow the State legislatures to dictate to them their votes, and
that they do hold themselves absolved from the personal
responsibility of their votes by such dictation. This is one place
in which the rock which was thought to have been firm has slipped
away, and the sands of democracy have made their way through. But
with reference to this it is always in the power of the Senate to
recover its own ground, and re-establish its own dignity; to the
people in this matter the words of the Constitution give no
authority, and all that is necessary for the recovery of the old
practice is a more conservative tendency throughout the country
generally. That there is such a conservative tendency, no one can
doubt; the fear is whether it may not work too quickly and go too
far.
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