Shortchanging Us Through Our Elected
Voices
The crafting of the
Graham-Cassidy “healthcare” bill demonstrates the epitome of how the checks and
balance system built into our democracy is being unreasonably exploited and
distorted to the electorate’s detriment. The legislators that are resorting to
gamesmanship to simply place a check mark on an agenda must be urged to perform
in a fashion consistent with how our government is designed to function. The
American people are victim to an evolution of the lawmaking process that, if
allowed to continue, will make the checks and balance process unrecognizable
and totally dysfunctional. Lawmaking is being done in a secretive process
initiated by a few select members to include only the agenda of the authors.
The legislation produced by this process is then placed on a ridiculously short
time schedule that prohibits the comprehensive review and debate/comment by
rank and file legislators built into the legislative system. The lawmakers are
then asked to vote on the bill before the review of the Congressional
Budget Office (a non-partisan entity) has been published. How could a responsible elected
official vote on legislation that hasn’t been properly vetted?
The idea that something
as important as health care reform is being ramrodded by a handful of our
elected officials is shameful. Why is it so important to usurp the process of
bipartisan committee development; evaluation by the Congressional Budget Office
and debate and approval by both houses of Congress prior to sending it to the
President? Departing from the typical program for creating or
modifying any legislation is suspect and should be challenged by the voters who
put the lawmakers in office.
We, the American voters of
all political persuasions, need to provide loud and boisterous objection to
this repugnant process that is taking all control away from us by the secretive
methods being employed to “reform” government involvement in our lives.
Healthcare is just the
tip of the iceberg with respect of how we are being shortchanged by our elected
representatives. This method is being increasingly employed in almost every
important legislation and must be stopped to allow the electorate the voice
they deserve and should demand of the lawmaking process.
