Pledges Threaten Democracy

Pledges by politicians to vote a particular way on future legislation are a threat to intelligent democracy. They remove problems from consideration whose solutions might benefit from a serious, open-minded discussion. Pledges freeze thoughtful people into ideological stances that prevent reasonable negotiation and compromise. And if the pledged candidate wins an office and is perceived by the pledge-masters not to have honored the pledge, punishment is likely to follow.

At the Federal level, we have the Taxpayer Protection Pledge from Grover Norquist. Candidates pledge to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and businesses or eliminations of deductions and credits unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates”. This pledge, signed by 41 of 47 Senate Republicans and 238 of 242 House Republicans, prevents any real progress on tax reform or deficit reduction. It allows big corporations to  continue to exploit tax loopholes, collect unwarranted subsidies, and use offshore electronic transfer of funds to cheat the U.S. Treasury. It freezes the George W. Bush temporary tax breaks for the top 4 individual income tax brackets at a time of financial crisis and increasing deficits. Consequently, the leadership of the Republican Party is pledged to Grover Norquist, an unelected lobbyist, and his secretly-funded and powerful Americans for Tax Reform organization.

In New Hampshire, we have the Americans for Prosperity Anti-tax Pledge which reads “-----as a candidate for public office, I pledge to you that I will;

Cut taxes and fees

Cur spending

Cut the size of government

Uphold both the New Hampshire and United States Constitution                                                                          

This This pledge has been signed by 20 NH Senators, over 220 NH House representatives, several Executive Council members and several candidates for governor. 

Historically, New Hampshire, with a volunteer legislature and no State sales or income taxes, has been financially conservative by definition, regardless of the political party in control of State government. A pledge to cut NH State taxes and fees further, in the middle of an unprecedented national fiscal crisis, is irresponsible. The attempt to do this with the NH cigarette and tobacco tax was a disaster. Cigarette taxes were reduced 10 cents per pack by our legislature with the promises of millions in additional revenues. Instead, revenues fell by millions while cigarette companies raised their prices by an equal amount, canceling any price advantage for smokers. The only result from this maneuver was higher profits for tobacco companies and unbalancing of the budget that was put in place by the previous legislature.

Apparently, NH House Speaker, William O'Brien, doesn't even believe that he needs pledges to control the votes of House members. As reported by Kevin Landrigan on nhlobby.com, Mr. O'Brien asked for committee resignations from four senior NH House members after their votes to sustain Governor Lynch's veto of O'Brien's “Right to Work” law. Landrigan also reported that soon afterword, Republican House whip D. J. Bettancourt refused to accept the resignations of 3 of these errant voters who report to him. But in his carefully worded letter to them, we see the admonishment, “ It is important that you realize that in exchange for responsibility and authority that comes with leadership, some independence is sacrificed.”  

Apparently, it is less than acceptable for NH House members to think for themselves or to support the wishes of their constituents who might not agree with the Republican House leadership – a sad commentary on Granite State government.

Maybe we should change the State motto to “Live Free but Agree with Me”