It is really dangerous for a free country when bills are written so arcanely and in such a convoluted way that legislators have no idea what they are voting for or against. A Senate Democrat has admitted this is the case with the upper house’s version of Obamacare, and hence, he won’t even try to read the bill. From the story:
Sen. Thomas Carper (D.-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not “expect” to read the actual legislative language of the committee’s health care bill because it is “confusing” and that anyone who claims they are going to read it and understand it is fooling people.
“I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life,” Carper told CNSNews.com
This is a similar admission to that made by Rep. John Conyers who said he wouldn’t read the bill because he would need two lawyers to tell him what it meant. But I’ll bet both will vote for it anyway. And isn’t that telling?
Omnibus bills and gobbledygook legislation are profoundly disrespectful of the people and a corruption of freedom. If for no other reason, Obamacare should be rejected and a reform bill constructed one piece at a time so we know what the the proposed law would do. And it should be as specific as possible so as not to turn over our entire system of governance to unelected faceless bureaucrats.
Color me disgusted.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…