Thinking Americans, both of us, were aghast at the words of Nancy Pelosi when she said we need to pass a bill so we could find out what was in it. Come again. What this reveals is that members of congress rarely read the laws they are passing. On one side that is understandable. I understand that one current bill was 1,400 pages long and they got it just as they were expected to vote. On a more rational side, why in the world would they consent to vote on something they had not read. It defies logic, but that is way our government is now working.
I would propose for a plank in the Republican party platform that we follow the example of Twitter. Understand that I am not on Twitter. All I know is what people tell me and I observe. My understanding is that a Twitter post is limited to a certain number of characters. In that regard I have seen a lot of posts quoting someone from twitter and it is a string of short statements you are supposed to follow.
I think there is wisdom in this for congress. All legislation should be limited to a certain length and required to be voted on as a stand alone bill. I don’t know how long that would be but it would be far short of 1,400 pages. This might cripple the process because people would not be able to get deals and add endless pork through amendments but in my mind that kind of crippling would be very healthy for the country.
homo unius libri
I agree 100%. And that is why they don't want line item veto.
ReplyDeleteThe two positions seem to go together.
DeleteGrace and peace