The READ THE BILLS Act
All American citizens of every political persuasion should be in favor of the Read The Bills Act. This proposed law cuts across all party lines.
By the same token, most members of Congress are against this law and they’re afraid to touch it with a ten-foot pole. This too cuts across all party lines. No matter how populist or how folksy a lawmaker is — or how many soundbites he/she makes about “being here to serve you” — he/she will probably start squirming and twitching at the mention of the Read The Bills Act.
The Read The Bills Act has been written by Downsize DC. As the name indicates, Downsize DC is a non-partisan group working for a smaller federal government. And they’re not talking about the phony “limited government” that Republicans are always blubbering about while they fork over more billions for the War in Iraq, the War on Drugs, the War on Privacy…
The Read The Bills Act, if passed, will require every lawmaker to read the entire contents of a bill before voting yes or no on it. Period. Rinse and repeat — EVERY bill that comes before them must be fully read before they can vote on it.
You can see why every American will benefit if this law is passed. AND you can see what an uphill battle it’s gonna be. “Read The Bills?!?!? But I’m too busy
Yes it’s an uphill battle, but it CAN be done. Please click here to make your voice heard. Ask your two senators and your congressional representative to sponsor the Read The Bills Act. It's time for our legislators to remember whom they're working for: Us. We The People. Let's make them start earning their salaries.
posted by Tom Harper @ 10:53 PM
14 Comments:
lets look at the last few years-
election fraud
illegal war
gitmo
torture
spying on US citizens
haliburton
lying
errosion of rights
oh ya and I am posting this not under my real name- because in a few years I could be shot for being a dissident.
My rep is Boehner-I suppose I can slip this onto a stewardess who can put it in front of him along with his martini.
You're 100% correct-these guys don't want to do anything but campaiogn and go on corp junkets once they make their way into Congress. I don't see this bill going much of anywhere.
Anonymous: Yup, there's a lot of shit going on, that's for sure. I don't want to be discouraging, but I don't think hiding your name is gonna make much difference. I think everybody who's using the Internet is leaving their footprints everywhere. Also known as "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't following you."
Jolly Roger: This bill probably doesn't have much chance. Still, if it gets enough publicity and enough people calling and e-mailing Congress, it could put them in an embarrassing position. That is, if those assholes are even capable of embarrassment.
From my perspective, there's a key problem with this bill. While I certainly am in favor of having my federal reps actually read what they're voting on, it's more important to me that they COMPREHEND what they read. In fact, if ANY of my reps were able to understand the complexities of various pieces of legislation plus BOTH short and long-term effects, I wouldn't care as much if they read it cover-to-cover or not.
Trey: I'm sure the law will need lots of fine-tuning (in case it actually gets passed). For that matter they could just say "yup, I've read it" and nobody would be able to prove or disprove it.
There might have to be some sort of test they have to pass before they can vote on a bill. They won't like being treated like a bunch of 8th graders, but they've brought this on themselves.
Tom, I blogged about this some time back, but it is such a common sense, "no brainer" that I think it might be time for me to push it out there again (with a H/T to you of course, when I do). Thank you for reminding me of this. The only way this will ever gain any ground will be for we bloggers to turn it into a topic of conversation and keep it out there.
Blog ON, brother...
Gun-Toting Liberal: Yeah, this proposed law has been on the back burner for awhile, but I think it's slowly gaining more support. I can't imagine anyone being against it (other than lawmakers) regardless of their political views. You're right, it'll be up to the blogosphere to keep plugging this.
I think it's a great idea, and that Trey is also right that politicians need to understand the bill as well as just hearing it. You almost wish there could be a quiz before the vote, because I think half the time the politicians would only know who's back they're scratching as opposed to what they're voting for.
Thanks for posting about it.
I had not heard about this bill until today.
I will be contacting Boxer and Feinstein and my rep, Susan Davis.
Scottage: Yeah, there'd have to be a way of making sure the legislators actually understood the bill and weren't just saying "OK, I read it." Any method of testing would be really time-consuming, but it's a more valuable use for their time than just schmoozing with their lobbyists.
Thanks Mike V.
Tom,
I think you're on to something! We should require reps & senators to pass a WASL-like test BEFORE they could cast their vote. Those who FAILED the test would be required to stay after class and clean the blackboards.
Going further, if they failed too many such tests in a term, we'd have to set them back a "grade". Senators would become reps (with no committee assignments) and reps would become county dog catchers.
Excellent idea! If nothing else, it would weed out the moneygrubbers and gold-diggers who go into politics just for the money and power.
Not only that, it might help us be certain that people who gain high positions in the political food chain can actually read. Maybe that is discriminatory against non-readers, but in this day and age when education and intelligence are being de-emphasized I would like to rest assured that my elected reps are able to read and to understand what they read.
They probably didn't bother reading the No Child Left Behind plan before approving it. I don't think testing kids up the wazoo is the best way to go about things... but testing members of the House and Senate repeatedly on the proposed legislation they would be required to read? Let's do it. Thanks for the link, Tom!
Snave: Yeah, this would weed out the ones with reading or comprehension problems, plus the ones who are too busy schmoozing with lobbyists to bother with their real jobs. The No Child Left Behind Act is a perfect example of a law that got passed without them knowing what they were voting on. Plus the Patriot Act...well, the list goes on and on.
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