UNACCEPTABLE

Congress just passed an enormous bill - the Economic Stimulus Act or whatever they are calling it - and several members have admitted they didn't even bother to read it.

Didn't bother to read it.

At 1,041 pages, I can't say that I blame them. Unless Stephen King writes it I probably wouldn't read it either. But no one has asked me to vote on it. It isn't in my job description to read it. No one is counting on my reading it to make an informed decision that will impact their very lives.

Worse yet, the President is expected to sign it. He probably hasn't read it either. I don't even sign a credit card receipt without looking at it first. I certainly wouldn't sign a binding contract much less a major piece of legislation without reading it.

It should be mandatory to read it. If that policy were instituted then maybe we'd start getting bills that were only for one thing at a time. Not a bill that builds roads in one state, counts mice babies in another state, and collects guns in a third state. None of these bogus attachments that creates railroad lines from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. If we're all going broke then who has money to gamble?

What do half of these things even have to do with stimulating the economy? I have an economics degree - although I haven't used it for 20 years so I've forgotten a lot - but I don't see the long term benefits to throwing trillions of dollars into the system. I do seem to remember lots of arguments on why that doesn't work.

I don't know. I'm very disappointed. Right now, Washington is operating business as usual. There's been no change. No effort to get along. No means of working together just the side with more votes getting what they wanted. I hope all their constituents paid attention to how the Congress voted. I did and I'll remember it come the next election. If this stimulus package fails, and I don't know one way or the other right now, I can assure you I won't support anyone who voted for it. If it does work then clearly there are some intelligent folks at work for us and they should be kept on the job.

People can no longer just sit back and hope for the best when it comes to our government. I no longer believe they have my best interests at heart. Sad to say, but that's how I feel. Everyone has to take an interest and do what they can to educate themselves on the issues at hand. Our very lives and livelihoods now depend on it. If nothing else there is one thing that everyone can do and that is pray for our leaders and leaders around the world. They need all the help they can get.

Maybe this will work. Maybe there are good things in this bill. I don't know, I haven't read it.