gjm comments on Should we enable public binding precommitments? - Less Wrong

0 Post author: capybaralet 31 July 2016 07:47PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (19)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: gjm 04 August 2016 12:55:23AM -2 points [-]

Yes, I agree; that's one of the reasons why "often the actions are better than the promises". Though candidates' promises are generally nothing as specific as 4-year waterfall plans, and I would expect them to get less specific if a law of this sort were introduced.

Comment author: ChristianKl 04 August 2016 09:02:22AM *  1 point [-]

In Germany there was a campaign promise of the SPD at the last election to not change the current law of accepting refugees.

The SPD broke that promise when the amount of refugee seekers rose drastically. I think that fact that they did so, shows that they react intelligently to changing circumstances. I wouldn't want to have politicians looked into 4-year promises that prevent them from acting dynamically.

Binding promises also make consensus finding harder and could even forbid it when the promises made before the election aren't compatible.