In short,
Republicans like pledges.
In the past,
Republican leaders have signed pledges saying they won’t raise taxes. One can
pretty much assume they have signed a pledge never to take any action not first
approved by the NRA. They have signed pledges during the current primary
campaign to support the Republican nominee, even if it comes down to the GOP elephant
in the room, no one wishes to talk about. Now in Virginia, they want Republican
primary voters to sign a pledge saying they will only vote for the Republican
candidate in the general election.
I can see
their point.
Nothing is
more disconcerting for a sports team that once commanded tremendous fan support
than to find themselves losing those fans because “things ain’t going well.”
If a sports
team goes from winning to losing, their fair-weather fans are the first one to
leave and are slow to come back. This couldn’t happen if sports fans signed
pledges the way churches make parishioners do every time they want to build a
new wing.
The
same goes for supermarkets and department stores. If a store is, “your friendly
shopping place,” it should always be your friendly shopping place. It shouldn’t
have to keep bribing its customers with deals and promotions to keep them from
taking their business to that brand new store opening across the street. Not
when a single loyalty oath would do the trick.
