Democracy, at its purest, features elected representatives who carry out the will of the citizenry.

Franklin’s city government is a good case study.

Voters last Spring, by overwhelming margins, rejected unrestrained growth in government spending — and, by extension, taxes — over the past decade. Led by two council newcomers who benefited from that sentiment at the polls, the City Council on Monday night did something remarkable by this council’s standards: It refused to raise property taxes for fiscal 2009.

Impressively, the vote for a revenue-neutral tax rate of 77 cents per $100 of assessed property value was unanimous. Council newcomers and holdovers alike respected the majority of voters’ desire to put a stop to rising taxes.

That’s what democracy is all about. The voters speak, and their representatives listen.

Richmond and Washington could learn a lot from Franklin, Va.