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Representation (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠unavoidable; the old question is whether we are represented by "countrymen like ourselves" or by "our betters" — and where final authority lies.

Representation (n.) lasts ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only while you keep forcing it: an elected official is your representative only as long as you stay active and threatening enough.

Representation (n.) will ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠never be good, the Levellers held, until laws are made by people like ourselves who know where we hurt.

Representation (n.) fails ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠most voters: what they think barely moves the people they elect, whose decisions track the very top of the wealth ladder.

Representation (n.) meant, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠for the seventeenth-century English pamphleteers, being governed by countrymen who know our wants, not knights and gentlemen blind to the people's sores.