ABSTRACT
One view of what makes ‘a good representative’ places the emphasis on the citizen’s ability to work within a political party, with the ‘good representative’ being the citizen who will adopt and obey the collective view even at the expense of his or her own views. Others feel that it is simply impossible to teach or train a citizen to be a ‘good representative’; they are just born with the desirable qualities. This reduces the debate to a simple question of nature versus nurture. Although some are born to be great, others will learn what is needed to achieve greatness.
