Clandestine Everything

 

 

"What ever happened to transparent government? I guess we will have to wait until next year or so..."

Just when one would think that things in Washington could not get more goofy, along comes the mega trade deals. We have been told by our President these deals are critical for our country to continue to grow. We have been told by the union hacks these trade deals are job and union killers. I will now get into the finite details of each deal to explain them in remarkable clarity. No, just kidding. I can't. I have not read them. They are clandestine. Hush, hush. However as we have been told, if we just sign the bills, we would know what was is in them (snicker).

I know I am not alone in this. Ever since 9/11, it seems like the world of government has become very mysterious. Very secretive. Very clandestine. We have scrapped our 4th Amendment and now allow the NSA to collect mega data on every United States citizen. And somewhere in the new spook house in Bluffdale, everything on everyone is being stored for (maybe) all time.

Congress and our President are quick to join the party. Legislation, put together by lobbyists, keeps coming in bills the size of which would dwarf a World Book encyclopedia. Nobody reads them, including the President. He just signs them into law. And then the public, who also knows nothing about these bills, must live under them. ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, TARP, Stimulus, and now the Trade Bills. This is no way to run a railroad (or a country).

Once in a while, one of the "Washington placators" will tell us they will put a bill on the internet so we can all download a PDF version of it. Have you ever tried to read just a few pages of a normal bill? It is like reading our tax code. Or an advanced calculus book. Or how to solve a Rubik's Cube. Most people can get lost in the weeds very quickly. I sure know that I can.

We are the stakeholders of this great country. As citizens, we are sick and tired of being spied on. We don't give a flying crap if it is only "Meta Data". It is still intrusive. We are sick and tired of all the cloak and dagger crap in just getting a bill to Congress. We are sick and tired of everything being written in "legalese" instead of plain English. We are tired of our laws written by lobbyists or special interest hacks. We want short, understandable laws written by the law makers we elect. Before a law gets debated on the floor of the House, it should be open for public view on the internet. That way, should there be any concerns by a citizen, that citizen could contact his or her Representative to voice the concern.

When the trade bill goes down in flames, we need to start over and do it the right way. May 2015 be the first year of the turn around, the reclama. No more clandestine anything - that is, except for taking care of foreign enemies of our state. That is what the NSA was founded for. It needs to get back to that charter. In fact, we all need to get back to our original charter - the Constitution.