Candidates need to take a voter's pledge

1/27/2012 3:00:00 PM

Pledge not to Pledge

Upon taking office, elected officials take the following oath witnessed by their fellow citizens: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Lately, however, our elected representatives have been signing all manner of pledges in a misguided attempt to please loud special interests with narrow agendas.

Take, for example, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. He doesn’t vote in Montana, and has never lived in Montana. If Norquist walked down Broadwater Avenue, few likely would recognize him.

Yet this Beltway figure has cajoled and threatened elected officials across the U.S., including our US Congressman, six Montana state senators and 28 state representatives, into pledging a kind of loyalty oath to oppose any tax increase at any time for any reason.

Other pledges are equally troubling. There is the pro-life pledge, promising to support only pro-life judicial and Cabinet nominees, and vowing to defund any organization that performs or funds abortions.

Another is the Marriage Vow, which a few presidential candidates have signed, but a few others, fortunately, have denounced. The Marriage Vow amounts to a promise to put a federal chaperone into every bedroom in America.

The vow pledges “vigorous opposition to any redefinition of the institution of marriage, faithful monogamy between one man and one woman, and that children raised by a mother and a father together experience better learning, less addiction, less legal trouble, and less extramarital pregnancy.” It goes on to pledge support for “second chance” periods for those seeking divorce—a “cooling off” period.

Family law traditionally has been a matter for the states to decide. Why do small-government conservatives think that Washington politicians should be the ones to decide who gets married, who gets divorced, and who brings up our children?

There are more than 20 pledges that politicians agree to when they sign the National Rifle Association Survey. Why does the NRA believe redundant pledges are necessary? Isn’t the oath to defend the Constitution and its Second Amendment sufficient?

Such pledges are a tactic of interest groups offering endorsements to candidates who need votes and campaign donations. It used to be enough to just say what you believe. Now you have to sign on the dotted line.

Americans want elected officials who will be clear about their principles and will use their best judgment so they will act to serve the nation’s best interests as circumstances develop.

Political affiliations signal a few basics about candidates and how they are likely to approach issues, including unpredictable problems that face every public official during their terms of office. In general, a Republican is one who believes in equal opportunity and free enterprise to find solutions. In general, a Democrat is one who believes in equal results and government legislation to find solutions. There used to be room for judgment so that 30 years ago 60 US Senators were considered “in the middle”. [1] Today every single US Senator has taken a side.

Interest groups have so narrowly defined our political parties that few who think beyond bumper sticker slogans feel comfortable belonging anymore. The party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan excludes anyone who doesn’t buy into a narrow set of tax, religious, and social agendas. The party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman has become a ragbag of interest groups pushing divisive identity politics.

I fear it will only get worse. All 50 states have their own interest groups trying to make a name for themselves sending out surveys or pledges. When candidates don’t sign, they are branded as infidels and cast into the outer darkness.

It’s time for a voter’s pledge. I will not vote for any candidate who signs a pledge or takes any oath beyond a promise to support and defend the Constitution—the only pledge that counts and the only one that should matter.

[1] http://nationaljournal.com/magazine/congress-hits-new-peak-in-polarization-20110224?page=2

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