madoc62 - A Matter of Trust...

Folks,

There's now a proposal to require Congressional lawmakers to post online the full text of bills at least seventy two hours before they are voted on. This, in an effort to redress the abysmal practice of jamming bills through Congress so quickly that no one has adequate time to examine them.

Of course, there are many in Congress who oppose such public visibility to their legislative antics. No surprise, the majority of those in opposition are Democrats.

Congressional leaders fight against posting bills online

Obama's $789 Billion "Stimulus Plan" bill ran over 1,000 pages and legislators had but a mere thirteen hours to examine it before voting on it. The "Cap & Trade" global warming bill was rushed through with but fifteen hours deliberation time and despite Obama's promises of "transparency" and two week's review time the trend is toward ever faster rushing of such bills.

Yet, I can understand the desire to rush things. It's a useful political tactic and the public has benefited from it in the past. However, that was when we had more trust in our legislators that despite the rush that they were still doing their jobs and adequately deliberating on the bills they were inflicting on the rest of us.

These days, that trust has been broken and left behind. The Stimulus Plan, the Cap & Trade bill, and the rest of their antics has left the American public with even less trust in our Congresscritters than we've had in the past. So, while a "seventy two hour limit" might hamstring some otherwise worthy political efforts, I think it a necessary thing for the public good.

We just can't trust those bastards to do their jobs like we used to.

The next things I'd like to see are Congressional Districts being drawn per population and not their political stasis as they are now. I'd also like to see term limits on Federal elected officials. That'd require a Constitutional Amendment and there's not a whole lot of likelihood of that any time soon. Still though, it'd be an improvement to what we've got now.

In the meantime, requiring our elected officials do their jobs well enough to post the text of any pending legislation at least seventy two hours before they vote on it would be a good remedy to the hash they've made of things these days.

That being the case, it's only to be expected that the Democrats in Congress are fighting this one. Given the unmitigated arrogance and gall they've shown thus far with the travesties they've pushed through, requiring a three day review period where the public can uncover their wretched excesses before the Democrats vote them into law is something those Democrats in Congress are deathly afraid of. That alone makes it a worthwhile thing to require if for no other reason.

Madoc

Tags: political
Current Location: San Diego
Current Mood: Intrigued
Current Music: Til Tuesday - Voices Carry

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