Pledges like bribes

The one issue that has been highlighted during this congressional battle over the debt limit is that some members of Congress have signed pledges to special interest groups that have been used as an excuse for not compromising on a budget deal. Whether the majority of the public realizes the implication, this act by some of our elected officials is that they have sold their vote in return for future political support.

The dictionary definition of this act of quid pro quo is “accepting a bribe.” I do not think the majority of voters have had any intention of their elected officials to be held accountable to anyone other than the people the elected official is intended to represent. It has become very clear that these elected officials that signed these pledges are not listening to their constituency.

This only demonstrates the corruption of these pledges. We the public should not be rewarding public officials for signing a pledge to a special interest group by re-electing them. It is apparent from Jim Camden’s July 31 column that Cathy McMorris Rodgers is one of these elected officials not listening because of her pledge to the special interest group of Grover Norquist.

George Thomas Clark

Deer Park