@stumblinthrulife Said At a superficial level, one could say that politicians should be bound by law to make good on campaign promises. I've often thought this myself.
But then I got to thinking about the consequences of this. Circumstances change over time. A politician promising to cut taxes by 10% over the next 3 years could be faced with unprecedented natural disasters resulting in severe budget shortages from relief work. Would they still be forced to make good on that promise, and further plunge the country into debt? If an exception would be made, by whom would it be made? The people? Congress? Now your expanding government - something that most of us disagree with since it costs tax dollars.
Is this the reason for all broken campaign promises? Changing circumstances? Undoubtedly not, some politicians are lying weasels all the time, and all politicians are lying weasels at least some of the time. But if you can't differentiate willfully broken promises from evolving policies due to an evolving landscape, then you can't legally enforce promises made.
i think it basically boils down to the general populace not being interested in politics.
i think you can promise the world with no real consequences cause most people don't even know 2 years down the line whether its been fulfilled or not.
the only time it comes up is when the opposition make a point of it,
which just leads to more promises being made to fix it.
...hence the terrible state of the irish health and education system.
Sep 26, 2007 @ 11:12:36
