Backwards Politics

We have been practicing politics in this country backwards for some time now. Decades, at least. We have two very large political parties that gather themselves together from time to time and decide on a platform. The platform for these parties is the agenda, the ideology, it's what they want to do, what they want to accomplish, it's their stand on whatever issues are forefront. And the voter, when they get to the ballot box, choose the candidate based on their party and the stands they take on the issues. The voter in essence chooses the ideology that's going to be pushed for that term. But this is backwards. Candidates and elected officials should represent the voters of that district, not a party, not an ideology. Elected officials should represent their district in the office they are elected to, not be a party representative for that office. The people, the voters, the residents of the district should decide how the elected official votes, not the party line. Politics in this country should be from the bottom up, not top down.