Why can’t you read the legislation you vote on Congress?

The grand design of the founders in crafting our constitution was to create a government that did not move too quickly. Decisions made in haste are generally wrong unless of course they are urgent and demand immediate attention as in cases of National Security or Natural Disaster. Otherwise government is supposed to simmer like stew. When all the ingredients are in and it has been properly cooked it’s ready to eat.

With that in mind, why is it so important that bills fly through congress without being read? Surely members of both houses understand it is the job of a Representative or Senator to Legislate which necessarily includes having a full understanding of what it is you are trying to turn into law. That is hardly possible if you cannot find the time to read a bill before you vote on it. If a piece of legislation is more complex than a newspaper to read then it needs to be rewritten until any reasonable person can read it in a reasonable amount of time. Legislation needs to be concise and it needs not to be filled with pages upon pages of bureaucratic nonsense that benefits no one except staff members paid to draft bills on behalf of members that are too busy to read legislation before voting on it. Citizens have a right to know what is in legislation and a degree of certainty that it can be understood by a reasonable person.

Representatives and Senators are in Washington at the behest of the voters. The voters in their Districts and States are not their meal ticket. They are sent to Washington to represent their constituents in a constitutionally limited Republic where the power remains with the people not the government. If they have forgotten that they damn well need to pick up a copy of the Constitution and remind themselves. The framers did not design Congress as a career for anyone. The framers certainly did not foresee lavish offices, large staffs, and pension plans. What they did see was a legislative branch that did their jobs and went home to their Districts and States. Originally the framers did not provide for Senators to be elected directly but rather sent by the legislatures of the several States. Later the Constitution was amended to provide for their direct election.

Congress has embellished itself, honored itself, and elevated itself to the point that they rarely require themselves to follow the same laws they pass for everyone else. Now they are too busy to take time to read the bills they write and send on the President for his signature. Citizens are not allowed an opportunity to fully understand what is included in legislation after the fact. No reading of Article 1 of the Constitution could possible bring anyone to the conclusion that this is nothing less than tyranny. The President under Article 2 has the power to Veto legislation sent to him by the Congress, which in the case of bills that have not been read one would think would be a foregone conclusion. When the President bothers not to read the bill as well and affixes his signature to make the bill a law he becomes equally complicit in tyranny.