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Few people ask where politicians obtain their insights, ideas and policy positions. More should. When the current minority leader HOR, and former majority lea

Few people ask where politicians obtain their insights, ideas and policy positions. More should. When the current minority leader HOR, and former majority leader HOR, stated, "we have to pass the bill to see what's inside" and the individual politicians base their policy votes on the testimony of industry captains and fed economists, I hardly call the politicians independent or objective. Politicians are mostly mouthpieces for constituent groups and don't understand any of the laws they pass at the granular, much less atomistic level. Their briefs, talking points and speeches are all prepared by others. The individual can only be as smart as his information input and analytical framework.

nunb 14y ago
what's amazing is that laws are added as riders onto unrelated legislation. at least, that's my understanding[1,2]. i suspect that the only people who read the bills are those trying to sneak something in, or watchdog groups like the eff. everybody else in washington is there for the hookers n'blow. [1] Plenty of references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_%28legislation%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_%28legislation%29 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/gop-pledge-o-meter/promise/666/will-not-bundle-bills-into-must-pass-legislatio/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/gop-pledge-... [2] These last two are Monsanto and firearms related bills being snuck through via the "avoid government shutdown" scare: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/21/174973235/did-congress-just-give-gmos-a-free-pass-in-the-courts http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/21/174973235/did-co... http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/03/21/174969923/nra-driven-gun-provisions-pass-along-with-spending-bill http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/03/21/174969923...
- BrokenPipe 14y ago
  and obviously eff and alike are not enough. What we need is full decentralization in govs too

nunb 14y ago

what's amazing is that laws are added as riders onto unrelated legislation. at least, that's my understanding[1,2]. i suspect that the only people who read the bills are those trying to sneak something in, or watchdog groups like the eff. everybody else in washington is there for the hookers n'blow. [1] Plenty of references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_%28legislation%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider_%28legislation%29 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/gop-pledge-o-meter/promise/666/will-not-bundle-bills-into-must-pass-legislatio/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/gop-pledge-... [2] These last two are Monsanto and firearms related bills being snuck through via the "avoid government shutdown" scare: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/21/174973235/did-congress-just-give-gmos-a-free-pass-in-the-courts http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/21/174973235/did-co... http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/03/21/174969923/nra-driven-gun-provisions-pass-along-with-spending-bill http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/03/21/174969923...

BrokenPipe 14y ago
and obviously eff and alike are not enough. What we need is full decentralization in govs too