As the November election approaches, it is tempting to believe that we can simply “throw the bums out” to make everything right in Washington. Unfortunately for America, the root of our political trouble is much deeper than a Republican Congress that has been in power a few terms too long.
Putting these people out of jobs may flush the toilet, so to speak, but it’s not going to stop the next Congress from leaving more steaming floaters for us to deal with next January.
The legislative process itself - the unwritten laws of doing business in Washington - are untouched by a change of party. The powerbrokers may be new, the channels of influence flowing through different K Street offices, but the culture of patronage remains intact.
The fate of a bill still depends not on its implications for American society but on the personalities of its proponents. Good law cannot be produced by such a system because legislators have no incentive to pay attention to the text of the bills they pass. In fact, they couldn’t even if they wanted to.
Congress frequently resorts to the use of omnibus bills that are hundreds of pages long, contain amendments added without debate, and remain unavailable in final form to rank-and-file member and the public until after the voting is done.
It should be no surprise that these votes split along party lines and that the bills themselves are incoherent, vague, and riddled with custom made loopholes and special appropriations.
Regardless of party affiliation, Americans can unite behind initiatives that make the legislative process more transparent and that compel Congressmen to review the laws they pass. Only clear and unambiguous legislative reform can return Congress to its rightful place as a respected deliberative and representative body.
To this end, an organization called Downsize DC has drafted a proposal for a new law called the “Read the Bills Act.” This bill would require that each piece of legislation, with all its amendments, must be read aloud to a quorum of physically assembled Congressmen. This would also apply to all bills up for renewal and to the full text of bills being amended. In addition, the final text of the bills along with the list of members in attendance for their reading would be published on the websites of the House and Senate for public review one week before a scheduled vote.
This delay would allow time for careful consideration of new legislation and for the public to voice its concerns before bills become law. It would also make it more difficult to pass the convoluted and nonsensical bills that currently tie up legions of lawyers and judges in a vain attempt to determine what exactly Congress intended.
The only intention I can make out from today’s Congress is the intention to look busy when election time rolls around. Well, the act isn’t working.
As President Bush tells us, “We are a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws.” Fair enough, but that old saying would be much more comforting if somebody, somewhere could tell us what those laws are.
Monday
On What Authority?
Disclaimer: I have never gambled online, nor do I enjoy gambling in general.
This week, Congress passed and the President signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, a bill that has already caused several publicly traded companies to pull out of the U.S. market. This bill was slipped in as an amendment to some unrelated port security legislation without serious debate and without a chance for the people impacted to make a case to their representatives. Before the bill, the industry generated $12 billion dollars a year worldwide, half of that in the U.S. Assuming the courts uphold the ban, that revenue will disappear.
The stocks of internet gambling companies are held by law abiding Americans, and millions have chosen to wager their hard-earned money on the websites.
On what legal basis were these people denied their income and entertainment? What is it about internet gambling as a transaction that makes it uniquely subject to regulation and prohibition? I can think of no meaningful distinction.
The prohibition of gambling, like the prohibition of drugs and alcohol and pornography and prostitution before it, is another example of Congress trying to impose its distinctly prudish, sober, straight-laced morality on the rest of us. Apparently this morality is good for us proles, its stiff confines shaping us in to productive citizens, but it obviously does not apply to Congressmen themselves who feel free to fuck children and fill their pockets.
I ask again, where does the authority to enact such legislation come from? What makes legislators believe they have the right to tinker with our lives?
This is the heart of authoritarianism: legislators claim the right to enact any legislation they choose because they are legislators. This logic is circular; it is not the truth and we must ban it from our brains.
This bill has nothing to do with gambling, everything to do with power. It is about the “law and order” types reasserting control over the internet and control over our lives.
To keep us paying our exorbitant taxes and believing that their control is necessary, the government must root out all eccentricity, it must attack at the source all things exciting, risky, bohemian and addictive. Where will we be if too many people start to think “I don’t believe I want 2.3 children, a house in the suburbs, and an 8-6 job working for some asshole”? The racy, sexy and utterly satisfying acts of life must remain taboo, denied to us (so they say) because they are dangerous.
It is your duty as Americans on this week marking yet another defeat for human freedom to do something boldly reckless and senselessly destructive, just for kicks. Go out to the street and feel the blood in your veins. Such action is the only antidote for the stupefying fog being pumped into you living room. I’ll see you out there.
This week, Congress passed and the President signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, a bill that has already caused several publicly traded companies to pull out of the U.S. market. This bill was slipped in as an amendment to some unrelated port security legislation without serious debate and without a chance for the people impacted to make a case to their representatives. Before the bill, the industry generated $12 billion dollars a year worldwide, half of that in the U.S. Assuming the courts uphold the ban, that revenue will disappear.
The stocks of internet gambling companies are held by law abiding Americans, and millions have chosen to wager their hard-earned money on the websites.
On what legal basis were these people denied their income and entertainment? What is it about internet gambling as a transaction that makes it uniquely subject to regulation and prohibition? I can think of no meaningful distinction.
The prohibition of gambling, like the prohibition of drugs and alcohol and pornography and prostitution before it, is another example of Congress trying to impose its distinctly prudish, sober, straight-laced morality on the rest of us. Apparently this morality is good for us proles, its stiff confines shaping us in to productive citizens, but it obviously does not apply to Congressmen themselves who feel free to fuck children and fill their pockets.
I ask again, where does the authority to enact such legislation come from? What makes legislators believe they have the right to tinker with our lives?
This is the heart of authoritarianism: legislators claim the right to enact any legislation they choose because they are legislators. This logic is circular; it is not the truth and we must ban it from our brains.
This bill has nothing to do with gambling, everything to do with power. It is about the “law and order” types reasserting control over the internet and control over our lives.
To keep us paying our exorbitant taxes and believing that their control is necessary, the government must root out all eccentricity, it must attack at the source all things exciting, risky, bohemian and addictive. Where will we be if too many people start to think “I don’t believe I want 2.3 children, a house in the suburbs, and an 8-6 job working for some asshole”? The racy, sexy and utterly satisfying acts of life must remain taboo, denied to us (so they say) because they are dangerous.
It is your duty as Americans on this week marking yet another defeat for human freedom to do something boldly reckless and senselessly destructive, just for kicks. Go out to the street and feel the blood in your veins. Such action is the only antidote for the stupefying fog being pumped into you living room. I’ll see you out there.
Tuesday
The Moderate Revolution
Why is it that being a moderate in this country has become a radical position? People who know me or read this site will also know that my views about government tend to be anti-establishment, anti-bullshit, and anti-war. Is that really so out there?
While my personal feelings tend toward the anarcho-capitalist/libertarian end of the spectrum, I am the first to admit that if the U.S. Government put up a “Sorry We’re Closed” sign tomorrow morning there would be blood in the streets. As much as I think the occasional revolution might be good for keeping the politicos in line, chaos and widespread violence are not among my political goals.
I do not think that massive dislocations, the destruction of old modes of life and production, or the extermination of whole classes of people are necessary or desirable.
I do not favor a sudden inversion of the social hierarchy, merely its evolution toward a more just one.
I oppose the exercise of coercive power over innocent individuals, whatever its source. I respect the freedom of my fellow men to live whatever lifestyle they choose. I refuse to be brainwashed by politicians, academic institutions and the media when they try to spread hate and fear.
Are these radical ideas? Respect for human rights, a suspicion of authority, and desire to exercise control over my own life?
The parties that have shared power for the last century are the true radicals, committed to violent expansionism outside the country and state control of everything within. They are the ones with grandiose plans and visions for reforming humankind in the image of gods or “good citizens.” They are the big government “progressives,” the big business shills, the secret inheritors of Marx and Trotsky and Machiavelli and Rousseau.
Find me a true liberal in today’s government, a person of moderation, learning, and reason, a person dedicated to public service above his own career. They have been driven out by the hyenas.
The American center has been hung out to dry for too long. The 12% at either political extreme is the most important base for each party, but the vast majority of us are neither socialists nor oligarchs. We are interested in a government that is responsive and responsible, that respects us enough to ignore our most ill-conceived demands, that acts with deliberation and caution in times of peace, power and persistence when attacked.
We demand good government, reasoned reform, safe streets, and the opportunity to make a living. These are the demands of the silent majority across the globe, but the radicals are louder, angrier, and sharper in their rhetoric. How long will we let them dominate the debate before we reclaim the radical centrism of our fathers?
While my personal feelings tend toward the anarcho-capitalist/libertarian end of the spectrum, I am the first to admit that if the U.S. Government put up a “Sorry We’re Closed” sign tomorrow morning there would be blood in the streets. As much as I think the occasional revolution might be good for keeping the politicos in line, chaos and widespread violence are not among my political goals.
I do not think that massive dislocations, the destruction of old modes of life and production, or the extermination of whole classes of people are necessary or desirable.
I do not favor a sudden inversion of the social hierarchy, merely its evolution toward a more just one.
I oppose the exercise of coercive power over innocent individuals, whatever its source. I respect the freedom of my fellow men to live whatever lifestyle they choose. I refuse to be brainwashed by politicians, academic institutions and the media when they try to spread hate and fear.
Are these radical ideas? Respect for human rights, a suspicion of authority, and desire to exercise control over my own life?
The parties that have shared power for the last century are the true radicals, committed to violent expansionism outside the country and state control of everything within. They are the ones with grandiose plans and visions for reforming humankind in the image of gods or “good citizens.” They are the big government “progressives,” the big business shills, the secret inheritors of Marx and Trotsky and Machiavelli and Rousseau.
Find me a true liberal in today’s government, a person of moderation, learning, and reason, a person dedicated to public service above his own career. They have been driven out by the hyenas.
The American center has been hung out to dry for too long. The 12% at either political extreme is the most important base for each party, but the vast majority of us are neither socialists nor oligarchs. We are interested in a government that is responsive and responsible, that respects us enough to ignore our most ill-conceived demands, that acts with deliberation and caution in times of peace, power and persistence when attacked.
We demand good government, reasoned reform, safe streets, and the opportunity to make a living. These are the demands of the silent majority across the globe, but the radicals are louder, angrier, and sharper in their rhetoric. How long will we let them dominate the debate before we reclaim the radical centrism of our fathers?
Wednesday
This Party is Boring
Everyone bitches about the partisanship here in Washington, and while the “red team blue team” game gets old fast, the real problem is not so much that people have strongly partisan policy preferences. It’s rather that most have no beliefs at all other than the bone-deep conviction that the other party is evil and wrong. Politicians and voters alike suffer from this syndrome.
Surveys of the American electorate show that, while opinions are nearly impossible to change, most people have stunted political ideologies that extend little beyond party preference. The sad fact is most Americans don’t even know what their own parties stand for. Party preference has almost nothing to do with objective self interest, nothing to do with reasoned assessments of evidence. It has everything to do with how your parents voted and what they told you as a child.
This is not to say that the Average Joe is stupid for not knowing all about political economy or the things his representatives do in office. This information is actually quite boring and difficult to obtain. Far from stupid, Americans are by and large skilled and knowledgeable people who hold highly specialized jobs that other Average Joes would be totally incapable of doing.
Making thoughtful judgments about complex policy issues takes time that people don’t have, energy that they can’t spare. Anybody see where this argument goes yet?
Why don’t we just let the worker bees be worker bees and us natural born leaders will make sure the hive keeps humming along. Most people can’t be expected to know what’s best for them. Just leave it to the experts.
Ok, so every totalitarian movement in the history of the world has made this argument. Politics are dirty. What’s the solution? We’re going to do away with them!
I only go down this intellectual road because the totalitarians, however wacky, really are responding to a fundamental human need. All of us need to be guided and mentored and formed; we are incomplete and incompetent in so many ways.
However the state is just another group of people with all the corresponding flaws – only these people declare their own infallibility and claim the right to shape us as they see fit.
Now we don’t live in a single party totalitarian state (yet) but take a look at the current political parties and try to sort out their philosophies of government, the values that define them. Look inside the cardboard boxes labeled Republican and Democrat and there are lots of odds and ends, but one artifact dominates the jumble.
Both ruling parties (and the bureaucracies and the mainstream media) are absolutely and totally committed to the preservation of the institutional framework of the U.S. Government. It sends them paychecks, it confers power and prestige, it is their forum, their life, their air.
Any group, coalition, person or organization that seriously questions “business as usual” will be crushed from all sides as a traitor or a madman.
While the status quo has always been powerful and there are good arguments for not rocking the boat without a reason, the status quo tendencies of any party are reinforced the longer it stays in power. If the result were mere stasis, I wouldn’t have such a problem.
However, the result of firmly entrenched and evenly opposed parties is much more insidious. It is a sort of decay, both in the quality of policy and in the ability of the population to think critically about it.
I fear our polity is inching toward its demise so slowly that we won’t even be able to identify the moment when it was definitively screwed. We need new parties, fresh blood, clear thinking, and for GOD SAKE some people in office who aren’t career politicians.
Rant off.
Surveys of the American electorate show that, while opinions are nearly impossible to change, most people have stunted political ideologies that extend little beyond party preference. The sad fact is most Americans don’t even know what their own parties stand for. Party preference has almost nothing to do with objective self interest, nothing to do with reasoned assessments of evidence. It has everything to do with how your parents voted and what they told you as a child.
This is not to say that the Average Joe is stupid for not knowing all about political economy or the things his representatives do in office. This information is actually quite boring and difficult to obtain. Far from stupid, Americans are by and large skilled and knowledgeable people who hold highly specialized jobs that other Average Joes would be totally incapable of doing.
Making thoughtful judgments about complex policy issues takes time that people don’t have, energy that they can’t spare. Anybody see where this argument goes yet?
Why don’t we just let the worker bees be worker bees and us natural born leaders will make sure the hive keeps humming along. Most people can’t be expected to know what’s best for them. Just leave it to the experts.
Ok, so every totalitarian movement in the history of the world has made this argument. Politics are dirty. What’s the solution? We’re going to do away with them!
I only go down this intellectual road because the totalitarians, however wacky, really are responding to a fundamental human need. All of us need to be guided and mentored and formed; we are incomplete and incompetent in so many ways.
However the state is just another group of people with all the corresponding flaws – only these people declare their own infallibility and claim the right to shape us as they see fit.
Now we don’t live in a single party totalitarian state (yet) but take a look at the current political parties and try to sort out their philosophies of government, the values that define them. Look inside the cardboard boxes labeled Republican and Democrat and there are lots of odds and ends, but one artifact dominates the jumble.
Both ruling parties (and the bureaucracies and the mainstream media) are absolutely and totally committed to the preservation of the institutional framework of the U.S. Government. It sends them paychecks, it confers power and prestige, it is their forum, their life, their air.
Any group, coalition, person or organization that seriously questions “business as usual” will be crushed from all sides as a traitor or a madman.
While the status quo has always been powerful and there are good arguments for not rocking the boat without a reason, the status quo tendencies of any party are reinforced the longer it stays in power. If the result were mere stasis, I wouldn’t have such a problem.
However, the result of firmly entrenched and evenly opposed parties is much more insidious. It is a sort of decay, both in the quality of policy and in the ability of the population to think critically about it.
I fear our polity is inching toward its demise so slowly that we won’t even be able to identify the moment when it was definitively screwed. We need new parties, fresh blood, clear thinking, and for GOD SAKE some people in office who aren’t career politicians.
Rant off.
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