...The three greatest threats to the Constitution are the Executive, the Legislative, and Judicial Branches. All of the things that We the People have worked for, fought for, and died for, are being destroyed by politicians who neglect their oath of office and trample upon the Constitution every day! The Read the Bills Act seeks to end this...
I have Jefferson's Parliamentary Manual before me. (I have an old set of Jefferson's complete works) In it, he carefully delineates both the rights and the obligations of Representatives and Senators. When you read this, you realize that they were supposed to work, not delegate everything to minions then sit in state and vote by rote.
DownsizeDC.org sent me a request to urge my alleged representatives to support the "Read the Bills Act." As readers of my column may have noticed already, I'm tired of pussyfooting around with this criminal gang. I call it the way I see it. Just thought you might enjoy reading my thoughts.
By the way, I've printed out and read the entire bill, and if passed, it would not only eliminate a lot of lousy legislation of the past, but would ensure that all bills be brief and to the point. There is another movement afoot to legislate that all bills be single purpose. That would effectively bar the current practice of adding billions of pork to "must pass" budget and social legislation.
The Read the Bills Act merely restores what the original duty of Congress was. Somewhere along the line, as I understand it, the House and Senate yawned and unanimously voted that they no longer had to read any of these boring, convoluted bills prepared by staff and lobbyists, but merely needed the title read and a vote taken. I presume this included periodically yawning and voting for another end of session tax supported pay increase for the August Body.
Two things are needed to perhaps reform the functions of Congress.
- All bills and legislation is to be single purposed. A bill addresses an issue and only that issue. Any amendments have to be directly addressing that issue. No pork, no side issues, and especially, no riders. All bills must be published and the discussions open to scrutiny. All votes to be by roll call so the constituents will know who supported or opposed what.
- The Read the Bills Act, which ensures that all legislators be present at the reading of bills and that all discussions be open, and that all legislators certify that they have read and understood the bill before them including any amendments. Before they can bring it to a vote.
Number one, above, will make bills more concise, and will eliminate the custom of putting expensive pork or special interest giveaways in so called "must pass" legislation.
Number two will ensure that there will be no more
"Gone With the Wind" sized bills introduced and voted on, unread by anybody but staff and lobbyists.
If we keep working on this, perhaps we can clean up the cesspool known as Washington D.C. Here's my letter, below:
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Congress needs to start reading the laws it passes. Please introduce DownsizeDC.org's "Read the Bills Act." I know you have the power to introduce this legislation on your own, without waiting for anyone else. I urge you to do so. This is a much-needed, common sense reform. I can see no justification for not introducing it. I'm telling my friends about it, and I look forward to hearing that you've introduced it. You can find the text of the legislation here:
http://www.downsizedc.org/...
My personal comment to you:
We realize this is a revolutionary idea, that a legislator should read, discuss and understand the bills he or she is going to vote on, but it is a good idea.
How many of you would have voted for the mis-named Patriot Act, had you actually read it? How many of you would have voted for it if you had actually read and understood the Constitution of the United States and its first ten amendments, commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights?
Remember the oath you take at the start of each session? To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic?
The three greatest threats to the Constitution of the United States today are the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial Branches of the United States Government.
All of the things that We the People have worked for, fought for, and died for, are being systematically destroyed because you people neglect that oath of office and trample upon the Constitution every day! You do it in the name of expediency, in the name of pork, of illicit power, and to pay off political debts to your wealthy supporters.
You do it by submitting bills that are hundreds of pages long, filled with amendments and addendums, unread by anybody, discussed for a few minutes in the abstract, then voted upon by a bare quorum at late Friday night or before long weekend sessions, so nobody is aware of what has been done to them until it is far too late.
Start turning this around. Read, then support the "Read the Bills Act." Pass it, and then start paying attention to the legislation you are asked to pass. Make it short and concise, discuss it well with the well-being of the nation in mind before you vote. Then vote for the good of We the People and the United States, not your private agendas.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this letter, and urge you to contact your representatives with the same or something similar. (
Click here to do so online). Frankly, I think these self-serving bastards are much like Al Capp's General Bullmoose. "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for everybody!" Even when it ain't.
Well, we'll see what happens, I guess.
Pax vobiscum,
Steve Osborn
Stephen M. Osborn [click here for more articles] is a freelance writer living on Camano Island in the Pacific Northwest. He is an "Atomic Vet." (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll 1956, ) who has been very active working and writing for nuclear disarmament and world peace. He is a retired Fire Battalion Chief, lifelong sailor, writer, poet, philosopher, historian and former newspaper columnist.