It’s no way to run a country
by David Atkins
My new Congresswoman, former California Assemblymember Julia Brownley, on the federal budget process:
Brownley lamented what she called “the craziness” of “budget mania day” and said she was in disbelief “that this is the way we are governing here in our nation’s capital.”
“It’s just sort of shocking, particularly after being in the California Legislature,” Brownley said. “Not to say we did things perfectly there. But we had a process. Everyone agreed to the process, and budgets were debated in great detail in committees and moved from one house to the next. We really wrestled with our state budget.”
In Washington, “it just seemed to me these budget proposals have not been through a committee process, haven’t been fully sunshined,” she said. “They haven’t gone through a full discussion with Democrats and Republicans sitting on committees, debating the issues, debating the priorities. Suddenly, these budgets appear, and we take votes.”
The Tea Party Constitution worshippers and strict constructionists are funny people. Largely because of them, we’re so far from anything the Founders envisioned for our government we might as well not even be talking about it.
If science could somehow revive Jefferson, Washington, Adams and the rest, spend a year teaching them American and world history and acculturating them to modern ethics, they would almost certainly go back to the drawing board in drawing up our governmental structure. The current situation is untenable.
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