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In theory, but only in theory, a Congressman is elected because the people trust him/her to do the right thing. In this case, it would make sense for the Congressman to vote in the manner they thought proper. In the real world, of course, constituents get angry when their representatives vote otherwise than they would have. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that gauging public opinion through widespread polls is expensive and can only be conducted on the most important issues. Thus, sometimes representatives don't even have the option of following pubic opinion.
The problem is this: the people trust the Congressman to vote his/her conscience if and only if the Congressman votes the interest of the constituency. Ah, paradoxes...
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The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
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