♣ Infantile Congressional Behavior !

I was utterly outraged today when Downsize DC brought this Washington Post article and CSPAN video clip to my attention:

[Washington Post's Capitol Briefing/CSPAN link]

I immediately wrote the following letter to my own congressman and two senators, Hon. Barbara Boxer, Hon. Dianne Feinstein, and Hon. Brian Bilbray:

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: [The “Read The Bills Act”] I AM ABSOLUTELY AND UTTERLY OUTRAGED by the deeply offensive and infantile display of disrespect last month when Members of Congress Henry Waxman of California and Joe Barton of Texas made a mockery of our nation's representative government. Not only did they abdicate their responsibility to actually REPRESENT their constituents by ensuring that legislation is comprehensively understood before a vote, they even flaunted the violation of their own rules requiring reading of a bill before a quorum of congress: [Capitol Briefing/CSPAN link] These are two men who have presumptively sworn a sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. How can Congress POSSIBLY represent the people of our great nation unless every bill before them for judgment is read and comprehended in its entirety? The guilt is not theirs alone; Reps. Waxman and Barton subsequently called for “unanimous consent” of all present to waive the rest of the reading. And so, every one in that room who did not immediately and vocally object to this nonsense in no uncertain terms shares the blame for the un-American charade that Congress has become. I call on you today to TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION to censure this utterly unconscionable behavior and to promote with every fiber of your being and all the remaining respect of your office the passage of the common-sense legislation known as “The Read The Bills Act.” Signed, Mr. Dann McCreary

How fantastically disrespectful of Waxman and Barton! Has Congress become nothing more than a circus in which the clowns “rubber stamp” huge compendiums they will not even bother to read? Remember, they are passing “laws” that purport to impose extremely costly and time-consuming obligations on the nation, and they don't even have the decency to READ them? I don't care if the bill is more than 900 pages long, Congress! If you don't want to READ that much, just write shorter bills!

I hope you will also take the time to hold your congressman and senators accountable for the legislation they allow to be passed. One way you can do this very effectively is by joining with Downsize DC and using their marvelous “Educate the Powerful” electronic lobbying system to minimize your time spent while maximizing your impact on your own legislators!

© 2009 Dann McCreary (aka creator)

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