The party system, which is developed in the interests of seeing business in a legislative assembly carried through efficiently, inevitably exerts control both on the selection of candidates who will represent the general population and also in the progress of their careers within the system. This raises the potential for an enduring conflict of interests between the party affiliation and the people. This is very much the situation Congress finds itself in today: the tension between the President and the people. However, where such a conflict exists, Congressmen and women should consider: it is not merely the future of the President and his administration that the issue; it is the essential relationship between the people and its representatives that is at stake here. That is why the principle of representation must override all other constraints if that relationship is to be preserved and democracy is to be allowed to flourish.
In the next few days enormous pressure will be brought to bear on Congress, arms will be twisted and promises made in an effort to ensure the President's will will be done. If the President cannot persuade the people that action should be taken in Syria, then Congress's duty is clear: it exists to represent the people governed; it acts as a check to absolute power, to any power concentrated in a single individual, or even a few individuals. When such power is acting contrary to the general will it becomes an abuse. It is the duty of Congress, as with any legislative body in a democracy, to act as a check on such power and not as an endorsement of it.
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