rk - I have mixed feelings about this. I don't believe that a politician's job is to represent themselves, but rather to represent the citizens of their district and the interests of the nation.

However, it can't be denied that their professed beliefs do influence public thought, as most people rely on the statements and attitudes of others in determining their own opinions.

This is human nature. (Anyone who is immune from the effects of public opinion is truly remarkable.)

So the honest politician would say, "I'm voting to outlaw X because the people that I represent believe X is wrong, but I personally think X is great."

But real politicians represent themselves as anti-X . They say, "I'm voting to outlaw X, and I personally believe that anyone who commits X should be punished."

Very few politicians could actually survive and succeed at their job if they didn't know when to separate their personal beliefs/opinions from the job of representing their constituents. But constituents vote politicians in based at least in part on the campaigns they've run and the opinions they have espoused as their own and their partys'.

Politicians are not just your voice in government, they are your eyes and ears. If they are dishonest then they will paint a dishonest and misleading picture of government for you. They do a lot more than merely vote the right way when it comes time. Their effect on the country comes from their words and their campaigns as much, sometimes more so, than their voting record.

Those are illegal, well being a pedophile is not, just acting on it.
I don't know how I would feel about it.
Have you ever interviewed a cop about his personal life when you needed him or her?
Seems kinda' silly huh?
As long as they are doing their job well that will be all you are concerned with.
As long as your doctor is just a pedophile and not acting on it, you will never know will you?
Did you ask your plumber what his stance on abortion was before they fixed your sink?

I don't believe in "human nature"... that is ALWAYS a cop-out. Human nature is to eat, sleep, breed, shit and die. That is all.
You are putting those words in their mouth.
What they are really saying is "this is what my constituents, and/or party, wanted me to vote for, so I did". If you read more into it than that, that is your choice. But, if they don't ACTUALLY say it, it does not exist... it is JUST a vote.

Their job is to espouse and put forward ideas and convictions with a view to affecting how everybody, including themselves, lives and works. As long as they do that properly then they're doing their job. Part of doing that job properly is to then live within the system they have created, not remove and elevate themselves to some point above the crowd.

If their only role is to vote a particular way without regard to any knowledge or information they may have then why bother electing from amongst the educated, and professional elite? You might as well send a circus geek as long as you train him to read a list of voting positions and cast the vote on cue. Politicians vote, but they also shape the debate. The debate then shapes peoples' views (rightly so, given we are not al experts in all the things that government has to deal with) and the politicians cast their vote in line with their constituents' wishes. A good politician helps to crystallise their constituents' opinions and democratic insight; thereby helping them reach a position for him to represent in government.

My first statement is that those activities were illegal. They should not be allowed to do them.
Though it depends on your definition of "drug-dealer".

I'm with rkzenrage with this one. Ideally, a politician voting record reflects his or her personal views but it is unrealistic to expect them too since the system works against an honest politician.

Its just that a politician has to to realize that by being caught for lying will hurt their voting record.

Do I like it? No, I hate it but what can ya do?

I would agree if their only role was that of voting.