It occurred to me a bit ago (though not for the first time) that while most campaign finance laws seem geared toward enabling skullduggery (just look at McCain/Feingold, for an example) rather than actually curbing it, the one real lack in political campaign laws is one that would allow common citizens to sue their elected officials for failing to actively pursue the platforms they campaigned on. Call it an “Truth in Campaigning” law. As it stands, everyone simply expects that 90% (or more–perhaps in some cases 100%) of a politician’s *spit* “promises” are anything from complete hot air to flat out lies, with the rare candidate who actually means what he says (and is likely not elected).
Heck, at the federal level, I’d support an “Honesty in Politics” amendment. We’d still have loony idiots, charlatans and creeps elected (by constituents who are themselves loony idiots, charlatans and creeps), but at least then we could more surely expect those who were elected to adhere to their campaign promises (heck, I’d almost be satisfied if they simply adhered to their oaths of office).
Until activist judges and Mass Media Podpeople got involved, of course.
*sigh*
Tea Party, anyone?
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