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11/10/2005 Archived Entry: "The Read the &^^%$$#! Bills amendment"

IT'S TOO BAD THAT SIMPLE COMMON SENSE and responsibility have to be mandated by constitutional amendment. Under the present dire circumstances, however, the amendment is a great idea.

I've observed before that if a burger-flipper at McDonalds did his job with the level of malfeasance shown by congressthings who don't read bills, he'd be fired in five seconds flat.

My own favored amendment has three provisions: congressthings have to swear under oath that they've actually read the final version of every bill they vote on; no bill may contain any provisions not described within the bill's title; and the language and intent of every bill must be clearly understandable to a person with typical 12th-grade reading abilities. (There are standard tests, used by ad agencies and manual writers, to determine readability levels of texts. OTHO, you could also say "understandable by average citizens 16 years or older.")

But when it comes down to it, once government has become such a mockery that "representatives" don't even bother to read the laws they're passing, you're beyond any help that a mere constitutional amendment can offer.

Posted by Claire @ 09:00 AM CST
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