I would like to think that this year’s elections have rendered a negative verdict on the practice of political pledges. Few are unfamiliar with the now classic hand-raising (or lack thereof) moment in the GOP primaries in which all of the candidates categorically refused to raise tax revenues. This moment, undoubtedly beholden to Grover Norquist’s despotic influence, resurfaced during the election. Obama referenced it publicly in the debates .As he should have.
Such displays of fixity and orthodoxy reveal a fundamentally anti-critical attitude. This attitude indicates a profound inability to engage with normative situations in a pragmatic fashion. Whether pledges set up unjustified a priori value priorities or worse yet signify candidates desperate pandering, they are a sign of intellectual failure. Indeed, I will argue in a future column that there can be no dismissal of the implications arising from the disproportionate preponderance of these pledges on the political right as compared to the political left.
It is my belief that we can now conclude that in some way, the American populace has repudiated this inane practice. This articleprovides hope.