Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Open Government
The House will pass the farm bill today, encumbering $280 billion of our money. What the average representative knew about the bill is open to question. Just yesterday Joe Congressman was given access to the conference report and an explanatory statement. These two documents totaled almost 1100 pages. How could Joe possibly understand the bill in even a shade of its complexity? Is this the way to enact sensible legislation?
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One time I contributed to some organization that was working to make it the law that the bill had to be read aloud in front of the legislature (though most aren't present anyway). We are told that we are to blame if we don't read the fine print but that does not apply to congressmen. On a similar vein, Janklow (a South Dakota politician) was speeding and ran a stop sign and killed a motorcyclist. Anyway the court finally awarded damages to the family but the law is written so that the government pays the million dollar settlement rather than Janklow. It is a rigged game but folks still keep thinking there is a way to win. Vote Nader. It is a huge long shot, but it is the only chance there is.
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