A deodorizer commercial on TV makes the point that we go "nose blind" after long exposure to unpleasant odors. The nastiest odor anyone can remember is human "decomposition," so it gets harder and harder to ignore the stink that our rotting body politic is making right this moment in Washington, D.C.
Last month (December, 2015), congress passed and the president signed an "omnibus" spending bill that filled more than two thousand pages. Predictably, it entailed dozens of separate legislative provisions, all of which should have been voted on individually.- up or down.
It came as no surprise, therefore, when "News Science Magazine" told us that "with the exception of the NIH, these final numbers are higher than what was contained for individual agencies passed by panels in the House of Representatives and the Senate earlier this year....It added $50 billion this year to the $1.017 trillion spent in 2015...and $30 billion in 2016."
Of course, once again the cost of government went up automatically and precipitously . And, of course, once again, there is no way to hold any particular lawmaker accountable for the passage of any particular provision within the bill. A vote for or against any part of it is a vote for or against all of it.
Thus has our noble republic degenerated into a free-flowing pig trough. It is, therefore, highly appropriate that we identify our elected hogs the same way we keep track of the barnyard variety: earmarks.
Please remember that seven years ago Barack Hussein Obama promised to banish both lobbyists and earmarks from his administration, but there is no junkyard large enough to hold all the broken promises that President B,O, has discarded along his path to perdition.
Don't stop reading now. We're just getting to the good part.
I have had an epiphany. It is a one-plank platform, endorsed by 100 years of precedent: The California initiative process requires that every proposition limit itself to one (and only one) subject.
Why not extend this principle to all federal legislation? Such a profound change could be accomplished with a simple majority vote and the signature of whichever Republican candidate prevails in next fall's election.
Why not extend this principle to all federal legislation? Such a profound change could be accomplished with a simple majority vote and the signature of whichever Republican candidate prevails in next fall's election.
Oh sure, the Boehners and McConnells will never support cutting off congress' slop-stream. That's fine. We'll just primary them. In fact, we'll primary any candidate that opposes our one-plank platform.
If we don't, we are doomed. It's as simple as that.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
1 comment:
Too bad it's light-years outside the Overton Window and the retaliatory measure would stand an at least good chance of handing Congress back to the Dems.
Has this proposal EVER been practiced in Congress, going back to the beginning of the Old Republic? Seems doubtful to me.
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