H.R.1 RANT

[FeelFreeToArgue]

John Kenneth Galbraith put it well - he said there is no economic principle that cannot be explained simply.

The founding fathers thought that one of the key elements of maintaining the republic was a full accounting of the activities of government. Unfortunately, the parts that are not black, like the CIA and most of defense budget, are worded in such a way as to hide their true impact not only from the average American, but even sophisticated observers.

[FeelFreeToArgue]

Most importantly, though, if no one has a clear understanding of what something means, then it means whatever the person with the power to interpret it wants it to mean.

[neotoy]

I think it's funny that while things are getting more and more transparent, all that's really revealing and illuminating is how absolutely opaque things really are underneath. Talk about irony!

[Northern1961]

And they call it 'change'!

I hate legal jargon.

[mconn2112]

I have read a large portions of some bills and they are so convoluted from all of the language, references to other legislation and other indirectly related garbage, even when you recognize it, it is difficult to want to stay the course with it. It is amazing how our bureaucracy even functions. Well put man.

[coffeedude65]

very few people who speak on the bill have actually read the bill. it is a daunting task and yes, it is almost code. it however, isn't incomprehesiable to those that are familiar with the manner of writing, but it is like walking through quicksand. i have yet made all the way through the bill myself, but trying to work through it. i do agree, the whole system of writing bills is malformed, they should be in plain english so it's not as difficult for the average guy to get through.peace.

[coffeedude65]

ps- i hate reading on the computer screen, but i don't want to use the paper and ink to get a hardcopy. lol

[neotoy]

I hear that. Just imagine how many tons of paper they used to print out the hundreds of copies that only a few people even read. Kind of sums up the whole problem for me.

[neotoy]

Exactly! I mean, if the average guy can't understand the legislation, how can there ever be true democracy? A nation for the people, by the people, that doesn't understand its own laws is pretty much out of control.

[funkalunatic]

I sometimes get emails at my guvmint job about federal money coming our way. Apparently for stimulus money, there are special reporting measures such that we have to report every purchase made with money we get from this bill, that I presume will show up on recovery d0rt gov. Practically speaking, there's still some budgetary wiggle room, but the stimulus is actually an improvement on the usual distribution of federal funds, if you can believe that.

[funkalunatic]

where d0rt=dot=.

[neotoy]

I can believe it. The US gov seems to be more interactive an accessible than at any time in history. That being said, it is still a very long way away from being what I would consider an actual democracy.

[funkalunatic]

There's an entire industry devoted to this thing - administration.  The bill is constructed piecemeal and read piecemeal. Any holistic analysis takes place only at a very general level.