The Promise Is the Point, Not the Policy

Nobody promises like a person who hasn't got the power yet. A campaign promise is made by someone who doesn't control the budget, the legislature, the courts, or the weather, and it is heard by people who know all that and vote on it anyway. Which suggests the promise isn't a contract. It's a direction of travel, a statement of whose side you're on.

That's why costing a promise is fatal and breaking one is survivable. Voters rarely want the policy; they want the promise made — the glimpse of a world where the thing they want isn't absurd. The lie isn't the gap between promise and outcome. It's pretending the gap was ever the point. The honest candidate promises less and loses. The honest voter knows this and votes anyway. Both are getting something real.