About "democracy" and town halls

For the record, I do not subscribe to the idea that legislators in a republic have a duty to care what polls from their constituents or phone calls from their constituents are saying about a given issue. Of course, it is seemingly more difficult to be re-elected if you ignore such pressure, but it is not wrong or a dereliction of duty to ignore it, in my humble opinion.

And the kind of rhetoric in the video below--of a man at a town hall forum hosted by PA's U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, is a little troubling. And I have no love for Specter, I just think that some folks need to dial it down and realize that accusations and near-threats are counter-productive.