As congress gets ready for their summer recess, Senators and Members of the House of Representatives are attending town hall meetings, some with representatives of the administration tagging along, and they are getting an earful. From “tea party” organizers to average citizens concerned about a government run health program, congress is experiencing just what it means when an informed citizenry exercises their free speech rights. It does not appear the political class was ready for such a vocal and motivated population to greet them in their home districts, and some have reacted better then others. One issue which seems particularly galling to many politicians is an expectation from their constituents that politicians would read and understand a bill prior to the bill being voting on.
YouTube.com is overflowing with images of flustered politicians offering the excuse that legislation is too long and too complicated to be read and understood my members. There is even a burgeoning and non partisan, “Read the Bill” movement. Legislators respond they read a summary prepared by their staff with all the “important” information highlighted.
With all do respect to our political “leaders (?)”, this is unacceptable. If a piece of legislation is too long and too complicated to be read before the vote, it is probably too long and complicated to work. Legislators have a responsibility to vote “no” or delay the vote, if they have not had time to fully understand what is being voted on.
Currently this is hurting the Democrats, as it is the Democrat leadership pushing the more controversial bills, including the complicated cap and trade and health reform provisions. Eventually, this will come to hurt the Republicans as well. The reality is, very few legislators of either party actually read the bills they vote on. There are some good ones, but for the most part they simply concern themselves not with what a bill actually contains but what a “yes” or “no” vote will mean for party considerations, and reelection. Perhaps citizens are reaching a tipping point of simply declaring: “A pox on both your houses”.
In the first video Rep. John Conyers, D-MI, "explains" why reading a bill is a waste of time.
In this video, CNN correspondent Campbell Brown endorses the "Read the Bill" movement.
This last video is from the Read the Bill.org, a project of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan, open government group.
Comments
The headline to this story is just SAD on its face. Why would anyone have to become an "activist" to persuade our elected officials to actually read much less understand legislation they vote on?
Many state Constitutions say when the government becomes perverted and no longer works FOR THE PEOPLE they represent, it is our duty and obligation to alter, reform or ABOLISH our form of government as we deem expedient!
It IS TIME!
I just read this article after linking from another article by the same author, D. Christan Moore, and both are loaded with spelling errors and a couple grammatical mistakes. Spell check? Don't you guys have proof readers? Editors? It just looks unprofessional and dilutes the authority of your work. Go legit, hire an editor or at least a monkey trained to click on spell check. This is an example of the erosion of standards that marks the decline of western civilization. I despise amateurish behavior and will be getting my news from other sites in the future. We're done here.
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