by help, i'm surrounded by liberals

Created on: June 09, 2008

Writing and passing workable legislation, is a herculean task requiring inordinate amounts of time, interaction with local communities to gather public insight and opinion and specialized knowledge. It has become a familiar sight to read through a bill, and find that the needs of special interests are behind the policy, while the politician hasn't really considered the overall effect their proposed bill will have on spending in the overall scheme of things.

Then there are the well meaning politicians whom I see trying their best to introduce legislation on complex policy issues that they are ill equipped to comment on.

We do not have an effective government that is able to prioritize legislative needs.
In the last decade, the amount of legislation that politicians are required to vote on, have become overwhelming for both Republicans and Democrats serving in both our state legislatures and congress.

Hundreds of special interests each year, pay state and federal lobbyists to get politicians on their side, and pass legislation which serves the needs of the special interests instead of the public. In a two party system, you have the floor leaders and whips who gather up all this legislation, schedule, and arrange it, and coordinate a party line vote for a great deal of this legislation. So politicians end up voting on things, they haven't even been briefed on or read, because of the "party line vote".

Although we have a committee system, where issues and legislation are discussed more thoroughly, special interests manage to wind their way into helping politicians who are on these committee's too, to get elected. If you look at campaign contributions to both individual politicians and parties, you will notice sometimes a certain industry has gathered together under one party, and sunk more money into that party, hoping to get their legislation introduced. The politicians in that party, whether they like it or not, are bound to try and debate positively on behalf of that special interest, which usually the other party votes against in a party line vote.

So politicians on both sides of the aisle are to some extent limited by special interests when they are discussing major issues, instead of being allowed to voice their own opinion. On major issues, there is sometimes more pressure for them to vote with the party. Also, politicians are so busy working on one hundred other issues, it is hard to get them to all show up at the same times.

There is an overwhelming amount of legislation passed, and mindless party line voting which permeates two party politics. It would be good to see the amount of legislation thrown at politicians reduced. You don't have to look too far to find, that most individual politicians even though they are equally limited on both sides of the aisle, do their best to work around the constraints of a two party system. Politicians who have mastered the art of compromising with demanding special interests while serving the needs of the people are always in demand, and it can take years to get major legislation passed. You will also find that everyday working politicians somehow manage to vote with their feelings at least part of the time. They don't always agree with or vote alongside their party, and many cross party lines to work on bi-partisan legislation.

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