Weren't we told the American people would be able to see bills created as a part of the transparency he was so big on promoting? Call me crazy but I could have sworn the following was on his own website, Change.gov Agenda: Ethics section;
End the Practice of Writing Legislation Behind Closed Doors: As president, Barack Obama will restore the American people's trust in their government by making government more open and transparent. Obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee mark-ups and conference committees, to be conducted in public.
Of course this would be the exact same page we found;
"I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists - and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president."
He may have done more than any other candidate but so far as President Obama he is developing a very poor record when it comes to promising and talking compared to implementing and walking the ethics line he drew. His fellow Democrats in the leadership positions of Congress are not losing any sleep over broken promises, it is part of the old school and they are straight A students.
Nancy Pelosi discussed the importance of language and having time to really study certain legislation. ReadtheStimulus.org has left her words visible for all of us to see. In discussing the agreements reached on school construction funds the Speaker of the House actually sounded sensible when she stated the following.
"With all of this you have to see the language. You said this --- I said that --- I understood it to be this way --- you know, we wanted to see it in writing and when we did that then we were able to go forward."
"Around here language means a lot. Words weigh a ton and one person's understanding of a spoken description might vary from another's. We wanted to see it. And not only just I had to see it I had to show it to my colleagues and my caucus. We wanted to take all the time that was necessary to make sure it was right."
However, on something as trivial as the $789 billion dollar stimulus plan negotiated behind closed doors are we to believe it is less important Madame Speaker? We've been told this is critical and urgency is paramount or doom will come to the land. This tactic has become standard operating procedure. The Emergency Bank Act of 1933 went from drafted to signed in a mere 19 hours due to the perceived dangers of their day. Although some stood in opposition due to not being able to even read the bill it did not stop them from voting us off the gold standard and leaving for future generations a fiat money system which has taken us down the road to today's panic vote.
We will see this bill passed and signed swiftly, with urgency taking precedence over transparency while speed replaces caution. Just as lobbyists have been given high positions, just as tax evaders now control the IRS, transparency falls victim to politics and there is no change. Of this we can now believe in for in just three short weeks we have been shown a pattern of politics as usual...on steroids. H.L. Mencken sounds prophetic today. "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and thus clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
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There's never been a better time to visit DownsizeDC.org's "Read the Bills Act"
Remember our history, not our modern traditions that are moving us toward representative democracy. Here is some recommended reading to help begin the stirring of our memory. Study these with friends and family as if you were studying the scriptures of your religion or the stats of your favorite sports team.
Thomas Jefferson's Account of the Declaration
Independence a Solemn Day by Richard Henry Lee
U.S. Constitution and Amendments
1828 Webster's Dictionary (learn the language of the founders)
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The most important thing we can all restore is conversation regarding politics.
2008 by Gary Wood
Columnist, radio show host, and co-founder of Hear My Thunder.
March of Liberty Radio Show Sunday's at 7pm EST
1828 Webster's Dictionary (learn the language of the founders)
©2009 Gary Wood, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Friday, February 13, 2009
Last modified: Friday, February 13, 2009
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