Were dooooooooooooomed I tell ya!

Regardless, he signed the pledge to garner political donations and votes. The voters fulfilled their part of the bargain by electing him to high office based upon his signed pledge and promise. Reneging on that pledge is a form of fraud since consideration changed hands. And there should be consequences for it like there would be in any business transaction when promises are broken after consideration is exchanged.

Maldonado used his ‘best judgment’ when he signed that pledge. Once he went there he has an obligation and committement to those who elected him to office.

When politicians are able to finagle money and votes from people and afterwards violate their signed pledges AND GET AWAY WITH IT OR EVEN GET REWARDED FOR IT it literally destroys the integrity of our political system. And once confidence in our political system is destroyed it puts our beloved nation in grave peril.

Where did I say Maldonado had a LEGAL obligation relative to the signing of the ‘no new taxes’ pledge? I said IMO that the law SHOULD force him to refund every single penny in donations from his constiuents for MORALLY and ethically betraying them by dishonoring his SIGNED PLEDGE. Like I said, if I paid a businessman for a product or service based on his SIGNED PROMISE and he reneged on that promise he would be FORCED to refund my payment. A politician should NOT be held to a LOWER STANDARD than a businessman!

When politicians renege on SIGNED PLEDGES it destroys faith in our political system. It damages it irreparably. And when citizens lose faith, trust and hope in a political system it does severe damage to the Republic and to our beloved Nation. Empires have fallen over it. This nation should NOT tolerate liars in public office. The offense should be the equivlent to perjury and the rascal should be thrown out on his ear and told never to return. Liars in public office are extremely dangerous. It should not be tolerated yet today in America it’s become political sport!!!

No, the more demanding “moral obligation” for Maldonado was to faithfully execute the duties of his office in a republican form of government. Any agreement or contract he made outside of that obligation is both legally moot and enforceable only through the election process we have.

Where I would agree with you is on the ignorant and foolish political gesture of signing a pledge to either do or not do some specific thing before you have access to the information and facts presented in our republican form of government.

Elected officials are supposed to exercise their own best judgement about the problems before them, rather than simply serve as a remote functionary of any particular interest group.

I noticed that you did not address the crux of my argument but only danced around it. No surprise there.

The fact is Maldonado DID VOLUNTARILY sign the ‘no new taxes’ pledge. Therefore, he was morally and ethically obliged to HONOR IT!!! Afterall, common citizen voters gave him their money and votes to elect him to high office based upon the promises that he made to them! How would you like it if I ran for office and signed a pledge that I would do everything in my power to ensure that your pension would not be compromised. And imagine if you sent me donations and gave me your vote based upon my signed promise. Then after I was elected I authored a bill to reduce your pension by 50%. Would you feel betrayed? How would you like it? Is that the way you want our political system to operate? Based on false promises? Put yourself in the shoes of the citizen voters who sent Maldonado their money and gave him their votes. Walk a mile in THEIR shoes. Do you believe in Jesus? What did Jesus say about the golden rule???

Any politician (of whatever party) who betrayed his own constituents who gave him their money and their votes for high office based upon his promises (signed pledge) and then violated his signed pledge after his election should be barred from office. It should be written into the law that politicians who betray their campaign promises are obligated to refund all political contributions to their supporters. Afterall, if a businessman made a promises to me about his service(s) or product(s) which turned out to be bogus and, based upon those bogus promises, I purchased his service(s) or product(s) I would be entitled to a refund.

Why not with a politician who should be held to an even higher standard than a businessman. Afterall, a politician has the power to help enact laws that we must follow. Why a lower standard than a businessman?