Friday evening Senator John Ensign wanted to prove a point. To prove just how big of a change the health care bill will be to America, he printed out all 2074 pages of the proposed health care bill and carried the 20lb, 2 foot tall stack into Congress and planted it on his desk for all to see. Ensign said, "It's a massive increase in government" as he spread his arms wide to depict the size of the bill. According to Americans for Tax Reform, the bill contains the word "tax" 551 times, the word "require" 1000 times, and the word "shall" 3500 times. Clearly not matter what this bill accomplishes it will inevitably result in more taxes, work and bureaucracy for the average tax payer.
Though proponents of the bill say that it will bring many benefits to the nation people should take a step back and realize that the more legislation in effect the greater burden there is on the citizens of America to abide by such legislation. Just keep that in mind or the next bill that comes to the floor might require a fork lift to bring in.
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I don't know if government is inherently bad if there's more of it, but one thing to keep in mind is that even bills that presumably create "freer" markets require large bills. Take NAFTA. Though it's half the size of the healthcare bill, it's still 900 pages. Think about all the other bilateral free trade bills the US has been negotiating with dozens of countries all around the world. Instead of judging something based on whether or not it will increase the size of the government, or even the size of the bill, i'd rather judge the smarts, flexibility, and quality of the governance that will emerge.
ReplyDeleteWell put Daniel, I'd have to agree. And I'd have to add that using anything Ensign says or does as an example of good governance or good judgment, immediately discredits the content of your argument in my mind. The man had an affair with his campaign treasurer who also happened to be his chief of staff/best friend's wife, and then used his dad's money to pay off his mistress's son and help get his mistress's husband an illegal job to keep quiet. Ensign is not exactly a shining star of how government should operate. Probably the ONLY thing he could do to contribute to the healthcare debate is press a print button and destroy a tree...
ReplyDeleteI think it may be faulty logic to assume that more legislation put more "burden" on voters to abide by legistlation. If there is a problen with the way our government is functioning, it needs to be taken care of with legislation. As new dilemmas are created, they need to be solved. Displaying the physical bill in front of Congress is not the best way to contribute to the healthcare bill, it doesn't solve any problems.
ReplyDeleteAlso, does Senator Ensign not realize we are in a recession. How about wasting paper and ink on the 2000 pages that could have more aptly been read on a Kindle.
ReplyDeleteHe needs to move into the 21st century.
Without the context, it's kind of difficult to measure whether the usage of those words is truly an attempt to burden the taxpayers, or (my guess!) a stunningly unremarkable case of legalistic bill writing. I helped write a bill once as part of an internship in high school. We wanted something pretty simple - to require schools to keep track of graduation rates. Then, we sat around for three or four hours thinking of possible clarifications and loopholes. What if they transfer schools? Out of state? What if there's no forwarding address? If they get their GED? Sent to prison? Die?
ReplyDeleteThere's a fair point to be made that the overly legalistic language excludes the common people from the law and makes things unnecessarily bureaucratic. But mostly, it's to clarify positions. A short, vague law is prone to misinterpretation by lobbyists and lawyers. And in this case, there's no telling how many times "tax" refers to the same code, "require" can place burdens on the government as well as taxpayers, and "shall"? Is basically filler text. And don't forget its use in the Constitution: "Congress SHALL make no law..."