The Pledge War
In a system where compromise has been part of the political fabric since the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a legislature filled with partisans who have made binding, no-compromise pledges is a serious threat to our survival.
To see how a pledge-dominated political system can destroy a government, take a look at California. There, a no-compromise referendum form of government has fixed things so that neither the governor nor the Legislature can do anything as the state’s higher-education system, once the envy of the world, slides into mediocrity, At a local level, caps on property taxes are destroying K-12 public education. The result is that California’s children will be far less ready to compete in a globalized economy where education is the key to success.
