On the basis of these five scenarios and the assigned reading, students ought to have become more familiar with some basic features of representative democracy.

(1) Citizens are represented by individual legislators whom they elect, the political parties with whom they identify, and the interest groups with whom they are affiliated or with whom they share views.

(2) Most bills introduced in and enacted by legislatures are non-controversial, but a number divide people, parties, and/or interest groups.

(3) During the course of a legislative session, a legislator will have to deal with hundreds of issues on which he/she has to choose sides and vote yes or no.

(4) Many factors go into a legislator’s decision on each issue--among the most important are the merits of the case, interest groups, political parties, constituents, and the legislator's own convictions and record.

(5) Arguments on the merits of an issue are a substantial part of the legislative process.

(6) If a bill is minor and if there is no organized opposition and no cost in public money, it is likely to pass.

(7) When opposition exits, on issues that affect and arouse the public, the major factors shaping decisions are constituency views and a legislator’s own convictions. Relatively few of the hundreds of issues a legislature considers each year are of this nature.

(8) Usually (not always) predominant constituency views and the representative’s own  convictions are aligned.

(9) Interest groups exercise influence across the board, but they exercise their greatest influence on issues where essentially no other major factors are in play. Constituents don’t care about the issue. Political parties have no position. And the convictions of legislators are not involved. There are good arguments on both sides of the question. On issues such as these, interest-group support for the legislator during his/her election effort may be a strong factor.

(10) Legislators keep their constituents in mind on just about every issue, not only major issues.

(11) Most legislators tend to agree with their party’s positions, because these are the positions that most legislative party members want. But some legislative party members, because of constituency or conviction, will buck a party position.

Prepared by Alan Rosenthal, Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, as a project of the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Center for Civic Education and the Center on Congress at Indiana University.  The author can be reached at alanr@rci.rutgers.edu or (732) 828-2210, ext. 251. The current version was completed in November 2005.