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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 say it, it does not exist... it is JUST a vote.
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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.