Upside Down Republicanism

When Ben Franklin was once asked a question concerning the type of government we ended up with after all the wrangling was finally done, he famously answered, "A republic, if you can keep it".  Well Ben, it looks like your fear/prediction has at least begun to come true. And I'm guessing the outcome from this point on will be, "not keeping it". It seems enough people would rather adore Obama and his socialism than heed Ben's most famous admonition, "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

In the original version of our republican form of government, we select the people who will represent us, tell them what to do, and they go and do their best to see that the job is done.
In today's version, the perpetually re-elected decide what their agenda is, and then jam it down the throats of the sheeple. They invent the problems, sell us on the need for a solution, and then proceed to their goal of control.  They pit one group against another, vilify a faceless "enemy", use the politics of envy and class warfare, and then brag about their "accomplishments" in righting all the wrongs.

Perhaps my memory is failing faster then the number of the currently employed, but I don't recall having a conversation with anyone in the past about the coming catastrophy of a baked earth before Al Gore and a few other opportunists put that loaf in the oven to see if it would rise, along with their incomes. And I never heard anyone complaining about not having access to hip replacements or MRIs or even hospitalization itself. Or not being able to have sufficient choices in doctors or places to have myriad diagnostic tests performed.

What I did hear was grousing about how much their insurance cost and how quickly the mean old hospital administrators in cahoots with the cheapo insurers kicked them out of bed after surgery or childbirth. And in a disturbing trend of the last several decades, if people think something costs more than they wish to pay, they promise to vote for the first person who promises to intervene.

But back to the elected few who decide on our life choices for us. It would seem that in the system devised by our founders, any legislation that is being proposed would be properly disclosed to everyone, in all it's details, and then after comments by our representitives, they would return to the people who elected them, inform them properly of the contents, state their preference, and return to debate the issue with their opponents and only then vote yea or nay.

Instead, they purposely obfuscate, confer in private, then make the bill so long and unreadable for normal folks that it discourages all but the truly focused from understanding the ramifications or making their preferences known. Then they sneak a vote on it late at night on a weekend immediately after introducing it, without reading it themselves. Somehow, I don't think that is what old Ben Franklin had in mind.

The system has been turned on it's head and if they really wanted to "reform" something which is broken, they would drop the stuff no one asked them to do (except themselves and the socialists) and change the way things are done in Congress.

I propose a new law. (something I almost never do) Here's how it would go;

Congress shall pass no law without its having been presented in writing, in it's final form, for sixty days after the bill has been formally presented to the floor, to allow the people to inform their representative of their preference for or against it.

Think that will get out of committee?  Not even if you stand on your head.