Election Promises

Is it just me or is this election campaign, more than any other, characterised by grandiose pledges on the part of politicians? Everyone I speak to seems to be responding to what they are reading and hearing with growing cynicism, incredulity, disinterest or even contempt. “They are trying to bribe us, but I don’t believe anything any of them say.”

Even worse is the daily trading of insults and the level of demonisation that is taking place.

On my part I hope that those separating parents who frequently make outrageous promises or seek to vilify their former partner in an effort to persuade their children to shift loyalties, are taking note. Politicians may behave in that manner and are rightly castigated for doing so, parents should never seek to emulate them.

It may be right in a democracy for the electorate to decide. In a family, even a broken one, young children should not be expected to do so. It is for their parents to behave like adults and to make decisions for them, preferably by consensus or after mediation, negotiation or, and only as a last resort, court proceedings.