I was thinking recently about politicians and election promises. It seems that no matter who gets elected, there’s always at least one promise which is made before the election, but gets neglected once the politician is in office. So I started to imagine what it would be like to live in a country where politicians are not allowed to make public election promises unless they’ve signed a written copy of the promise. If they break the promise they are personally liable for penalties due to breach of contract.
Of course such a system may end up causing politicians to never promise anything because if they do, a vindictive opposition could block legislation in the upper house just to penalise the promise-making politician. But it would encourage politicians to think twice before making rash promises.