Essay Example on a Promise Made is a Promise Kept: Theodore Roosevelt's Beliefs

Theodore Roosevelt believed that a man is worthless unless he is focused on an idea and uses practical methods to realize the ideal. He believed that a man should promise to himself and others only what he can perform. Promise alone is not enough, but success is attributed to the performance of what is promised. A promise is important only significant if it is kept because a promise made and not kept is not beneficial at all. However, sometimes leaders compromise their promises and are unable to keep their promises even on significant matters such as fighting corruption.

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An honest politician may, for example, promise the people that he will deal with the issue of corruption without compromise (Peters, 2018). Despite the promise made and the willingness and devotion to keep the promise, the leader or politician has to work with the policymakers. Sometimes the politician may fail to reach a working agreement with the stakeholders involved, thus failing to fulfill the promise made to the people. For a leader, this is demeaning and humiliating, as it means breaking his promise. What is promised should be kept, so there should be no excuses for why it has become impossible to perform what he promised.

If the politicians are allowed to give excuses on the factors that have contributed to the impossibilities of keeping their promises, they will make it a norm to break their promises (Peters, 2018). This is because compromising on the promises that are not kept will encourage the politicians to be dishonest by making promises that are not realistic and impossible to achieve. They will, therefore, develop a norm of lying to the people for them to be elected and safeguard their interests. People who do not practice truth and honest should not be trusted with the government as they cannot manage the government well.

Sometimes, the politicians make promises that cannot be kept, and the public knows or ought to know that the politician may fail to keep the promise (Peters, 2018). The public can scrutinize the policies or promises presented during a public speech or party platforms and question the viability and applicability of what is promised. If the public realizes that what the politicians are promising will be hard to perform, then they should not elect them as they will not keep their promises.

The reason why politicians give promises is to get re-elected, hence the reason why they promise what they can and cannot deliver (Peters, 2018). Theodore argues that politicians focus on building their image as opposed to working for the people, the choice of the projects to be implemented is based on how the project will improve the image and brand of the politician. The politicians also like tarnishing the brand of the competitors to reduce their competitiveness during the election. Voters need to focus on the history of the politician when deciding whether to re-elect the person back to the office.

Conclusion

In conclusion, promises sometimes are not kept for various that is initially known to the promisor or the assumption that performing as per the promises will be easy. When a politician makes a promise, he/she has to work with other stakeholders to fulfill the promise. However, this is always not easy, so the politician may end up failing on his mandate. However, the public also contributes as they should question the possibility of performing the promises delivered in public speech or political platforms. This is because, in some instances, the politicians should or ought to know that some promises cannot be fulfilled.

References

Peters, B. G. (2018). American public policy: Promise and performance. Cq Press.