Requiring politicians to wager

Not on whether they win or lose, but on each promise they make.

The pol has to bet a certain amount of his salary on the successful completion of each promise. I figure why not make them show how confident and or true they are going to be by a money wager.

If a pol knows he knows he's not likely to get something through, he will reveal his real feelings about it with a small losing bet. Unless he's crazy and places a big bluff bet. Then he's just a double big loser.

While it sounds good in theory.

It would not be fair because many (perhaps most) "failed promises" are not due to lack of trying from the individual political, but gridlocking by the opposition. It would be unfair to punish a political for making an honest attempt to get their platform through when it failed because of lack of support for others....

Quote: Gandler

While it sounds good in theory.

It would not be fair because many (perhaps most) "failed promises" are not due to lack of trying from the individual political, but gridlocking by the opposition. It would be unfair to punish a political for making an honest attempt to get their platform through when it failed because of lack of support for others....

Maybe they would stop overpromising.

No sense listening to someone talking about balancing the budget when they know there is zero probability they can bring trillions under control. Let them make a more honest projection about the budget.

Plus it favors more promises that both parties are likely to agree with. We might stop getting this extreme polarization.

Plus even with promises that couldn't be accomplished you could see how serious a candidate is about an issue. It might clue you in to both the nutjobs, and those seriously dedicated to their cause be it good or bad.