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"Republican Gov. Bill Haslam [who signed the bill] told reporters earlier this week that he wasn't familiar with the details of the legislation, but..." I feel

"Republican Gov. Bill Haslam [who signed the bill] told reporters earlier this week that he wasn't familiar with the details of the legislation, but..." I feel like this says it all.

anamax 15y ago
What fraction of legislation do you think that the "best" governor understands?
- billswift 15y ago
  Any and all that he signs, or he shouldn't be signing it into law.
  - anamax 15y ago
    >>What fraction of legislation do you think that the "best" governor understands? > Any and all that he signs, or he shouldn't be signing it into law. I think that you're answering a different question, namely what should a governor do. I asked about what real governors actually do, suggesting that the governor in question is typical and that none are significantly better. Do you have any examples of governors who behave as you (and I) think that they should? If not....
pak 15y ago
This is unfortunately the rule, not the exception. If you ever have checked out any of these laws that go before a US legislature they are generally hundreds of pages long and a very dry read. Even the legislator that is sponsoring the bill likely has not read the whole thing in detail, but only the summary prepared by his team of aides, and has relied on many other people to write up his drafted law. Probably the only people that read and can understand these new laws in full are prosecutors and other lawyers.
markkanof 15y ago
This is really all too common. You always hear politicians say things like "Well I'm not familiar with that issue specifically...so many pieces of legislation pass by my desk I really can't review them all." It's true that you can't expect one person to comprehend every issue at a deep level. But politicians shouldn't be rubber stamping things just to build up enough "credits" to get their next piece of legislation passed through.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
cygwin98 15y ago
You know what, every time I hear such an excuse, I can't help thinking: well, why not a github for those laws. At least, we can "diff" them and follow up with who actually submitted the "patch". At least in that way we have certain accountability there.
- dhimes 15y ago
  This is such an excellent idea for citizenship that it would probably be made illegal because of its potential to embarass the lawmakers (or otherwise hold them directly and irrefutably accountable for their actions). If only there was a way... wikilawleaks ... hmmmm...

"Republican Gov. Bill Haslam [who signed the bill] told reporters earlier this week that he wasn't familiar with the details of the legislation, but..." I feel like this says it all.

anamax 15y ago

What fraction of legislation do you think that the "best" governor understands?

billswift 15y ago
Any and all that he signs, or he shouldn't be signing it into law.
- anamax 15y ago
  >>What fraction of legislation do you think that the "best" governor understands? > Any and all that he signs, or he shouldn't be signing it into law. I think that you're answering a different question, namely what should a governor do. I asked about what real governors actually do, suggesting that the governor in question is typical and that none are significantly better. Do you have any examples of governors who behave as you (and I) think that they should? If not....

pak 15y ago

This is unfortunately the rule, not the exception. If you ever have checked out any of these laws that go before a US legislature they are generally hundreds of pages long and a very dry read. Even the legislator that is sponsoring the bill likely has not read the whole thing in detail, but only the summary prepared by his team of aides, and has relied on many other people to write up his drafted law. Probably the only people that read and can understand these new laws in full are prosecutors and other lawyers.

markkanof 15y ago

This is really all too common. You always hear politicians say things like "Well I'm not familiar with that issue specifically...so many pieces of legislation pass by my desk I really can't review them all." It's true that you can't expect one person to comprehend every issue at a deep level. But politicians shouldn't be rubber stamping things just to build up enough "credits" to get their next piece of legislation passed through.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

cygwin98 15y ago

You know what, every time I hear such an excuse, I can't help thinking: well, why not a github for those laws. At least, we can "diff" them and follow up with who actually submitted the "patch". At least in that way we have certain accountability there.

dhimes 15y ago
This is such an excellent idea for citizenship that it would probably be made illegal because of its potential to embarass the lawmakers (or otherwise hold them directly and irrefutably accountable for their actions). If only there was a way... wikilawleaks ... hmmmm...