Explain why the dual roles of members of Congress encourage citizens’ love–hate relationship with Congress.

What will be an ideal response?

The dual functions of Congress, to represent constituents but also to pass legislation in the nation’s interest, put stress on the representatives. Often, representatives and senators will concentrate on pleasing their constituency through a host of representative functions at the expense of attention to national lawmaking. We reward our particular representatives and senators because they represent us, yet we deplore Congress as a whole because the rest of the body concentrates on representing others. We create the very institution we dislike by rewarding our own representatives and senators for doing what we dislike other representatives or senators for doing. Furthermore, the increasing role of partisanship deepens this love–hate relationship. American citizens approve of situations where a representative votes to pass a bill favored by the citizen’s political party. Yet Americans dislike it when representatives let partisanship escalate to the point where Congress is unable to function.