ABSTRACT
Among all the conditions that make congressmen free, there is one that deserves special attention; that is the fact that a congressman's own decisions largely determine what pressures will be communicated to him. Paradoxical as it may seem, their "freedom" comes from the excessive demands made on them. The complexity of their environment which seems to congressmen to rob them of initiative thrusts initiative back on them, for, when the demands on a man's resources clearly exceed his capacity to respond, he must select the problems and pressures to which to respond. The work load of the congressman and his staff reduces the precision with which congressmen interpret that high proportion of mail which is only partially on target. One implication of the fact that the congressman makes his own job and hears what he chooses to hear is that he can be a relatively free man, not the unwilling captive of interest groups or parties.
