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Jewish World Review Sept. 7, 2010/ 28 Elul, 5770 Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills By Arnold Ahlert
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
At a recent town-hall meeting in Montana, Democrat Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and primary architect of the health care bill passed by Congress, was asked if he had read the bill in its entirety. "I don't think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It's statutory language," Baucus answered. "We hire experts."
If that quote sounds familiar, perhaps that's because it's remarkably similar to one made just over a year ago by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) regarding the same bill. "I love these members, they get up and say, 'Read the bill,'" offered Conyers. "What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?"
While it is obvious that the level of corruption in Washington, D.C. has reached a point where two prominent Democrat Congressmen feel no need to hide their utter lack of responsibility, the far more troubling aspect of both statements is the fact that both men have admitted that the health care bill they voted into law was beyond their comprehension, absent the help of "experts" and "two lawyers," respectively.
That would be the very same bill that had to be passed, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "so that you can find out what's in it…" Once again, if that too sounds familiar, perhaps that's because it's remarkably similar to what Senator Chris Dodd said with regard to Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which is also over two thousand pages long:
"No one will know until this is actually in place how it works."
How does one comply with such laws? More importantly, how can ordinary Americans be held accountable for provisions in the health care bill, the financial reform bill, or any other bill written in "statutory language," when the authors of the bills themselves don't understand them? Apparently Congressmen Baucus and Conyers (and very likely many others) think the public should be expected to plow through thousands of pages of arcane verbiage--an effort these two have publicly announced is a waste of their time--or be forced to hire experts to do so at our own expense.
For perspective sake, consider the Constitution of the United States. The document upon which the entire foundation of our legal system rests, was written on four pieces of parchment paper. Using today's common fonts and standard-size 8.5"x 11" paper, the Constitution is approximately thirty-two pages long--and written in language that every reasonably educated American can understand.
How did we get from 32 pages of common English to thousands of pages of statutory gibberish?
Moral confusion. It is a confusion which gained substantial traction when Americans swapped their traditional sources of moral guidance--religious leaders--for their currently fashionable sources, lawyers and therapists. Once right and wrong was transformed into "legal and illegal" or "well and unwell," it became necessary to codify more and more of what was once considered common sense and common decency. An obvious offshoot of this reality is that we have become the most litigious nation in the history of man--which begets even more codification as a means of avoiding such litigation.
The realities of such excess are daunting. Did Americans ever envision a day when diving boards would be removed from public pools, or kids-league baseball seasons would be cancelled for lack of affordable liability insurance? Did we ever envision a day when the same city that put up the Empire State Building in fourteen months might be forced to endure the complete construction of a mosque before the re-building of the World Trade Center, which has languished for nearly a decade?
As I've mentioned previously, the ditch where the Twin Towers once stood is a testament to our self-inflicted paralysis. So is the Deutsche Bank Building, which is still standing, despite being slated for demolition as a result of irreparable damage from the same attack. Due to both litigation and byzantine regulation, we have reached a point where we can't even put up--or knock down--a building is less than nine years.
One would like to believe the kind of bills Congress currently writes is due to such moral confusion, as opposed to anything Machiavellian. But it is no secret that the Democrat party, using government as their vehicle, yearns to control as many aspects of American life as they possibly can. And while the above quotes by prominent Democrats may seem ludicrous taken solely at face value, they reveal a chilling possibility: innocent Americans can be turned into law-breakers, even if they're paying attention to what government is doing.
No one is under greater control by the state than someone convicted of a crime. That control can range from as little as a ticket for a minor infraction to as great as life imprisonment or the death penalty for serious offenses. And as most Americans know, "ignorance of the law is no excuse" for exemption from its consequences.
Yet what if a law is not merely unknown, but unknowable? Both The Trial by Franz Kafka and 1984 by George Orwell offer fictional glimpses of totalitarian societies where absolute power derives from unknown and unknowable law. Max Baucus and John Conyers have made public statements which suggest that such fiction has become reality. But aside from the conservative blogosphere making hay of such outrageousness, most Americans remain unaware of perhaps the greatest threat facing our nation today:
If the law is unknowable, so is the extent of the power the state may wield to enforce it.
One more thing: it is worth remembering that the "lawyers" and "experts" Congress relies on to write laws are unelected by the public. And while there are certain instances where jargon may be necessary, such as laws written with regard to science or medicine, there is absolutely no reason why most Congressional legislation can't be written in plain English.
If our elected officials are so contemptuous of the American public that they can't write bills even educated people can understand--or be bothered to read the bills they vote into law--Americans should throw them out of office.
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© 2010, Arnold Ahlert |
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