Core Values of Good Legislatures.

• Position: Brief Article

Legislatures need to take a positive approach to change while protecting the core values of a representative democracy.

No question about it: Change is part of the future. Lawmakers need to carefully assess what kind of change the public demands of the legislature, and then, as servants of the public will, respect and accommodate it. But legislators also have another obligation: to protect the core values of representative democracy and the deliberative process.

Nine core values represent the heart of the legislative institution. And its future strength depends, to a great degree, on how well legislatures today incorporate those values and communicate them to the people.

To remain strong, legislatures should:

1. Be ethical institutions.

2. Be committed to representative democracy as opposed to democracy by polls and other forms of direct democracy.

3. Be responsive and open to the needs of the people.

4. Be committed to collegiality among their members.

5. Have a clear sense of themselves as institutions and be active in advocating on their own behalf to the public.

6. Be committed to being independent, coequal branches of government.

7. Be committed to a deliberative process of making public policy.

8. Be committed to being high-quality institutions, including attracting high-quality legislators and staff.

9. Value leadership that promotes the core values of the good legislature.

If they are properly prepared and responsive, legislatures have little to fear from change. Better civic education, combined with increased attention to accommodating the changing role of voters in a representative process, will pay long-term dividends. Dealing with greater public involvement in policymaking should only serve as a reminder that legislators are stewards of the people's will. The challenge is to stay in tune with the changing will of citizens or risk losing a role in the process.

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