[USMA:27304] Representatives or Delegates?

[Joseph B. Reid]

The responsibility of government in introducing the metric system has 
been discussed in USMA messages 27295, 27298, and 27299.

The contrast between the speed of adopting the metric system by the 
British countries and the USA, it seems to me, to be due to the Members 
of Congress being expected to present the wishes of their constituents, 
while British parliamentarians are delegated to vote for what they 
consider to be in the best interests of their constituents, even though 
the constituents may wish for something different.

So far as I know, the question of going metric has not been put to a 
vote of any British electorate; parliaments have simply decided on the 
change.