The omnibus "stimulus" bill currently before Congress is packed with all sorts of initiatives that have very little to do with our current economic situation. If each of them has merit, shouldn't they be separate bills?
One example is the modernization of medical records. It might be a great thing, or it might be government creating new bureaucracies. It might be too much, or too little. So why doesn't Congress put forward the Medical Modernization Act of 2009?
Another example is $9 billion for "broadband". Notwithstanding that broadband is being deployed apace by the private sector -- shouldn't this be debated on its own merits, and over time? Instead, it's been bolted onto a piece of legislation so large that there is little hope of experts weighing in in a serious way.
If we've learned anything about healthcare and technology, it's that the devil is in the details. And the details are being papered over.
This leads me to believe that the new administration wants it this way. Rahm Emanuel has said as much. The only conclusion to draw is that our leaders believe that public debate will hurt these initiatives -- a deeply offensive idea.
By making this a rushed, all-or-nothing proposition, the American people are being pushed out of the debate. We are being asked to sit in the back of the (omni)bus.
To say we're being pushed out of the debate implies that we were once a part of it. The only people present in this debate are those who occupy the echo chamber known as Capitol Hill.
Posted by: jrod | 10 February 2009 at 06:46 AM
Government spending is poverty. It is the destruction of wealth. Imagine a world of hungry people.
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