Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

The Party goes on

Especially in Congress. Here’s Jim Cooper (D, TN):

They know its a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill. Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous. They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like. If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time."

Discussions - 1 Comment

Maybe he is covering his butt because even democrats in Tennessee don't like sloppy and wasteful government spending. To be treated like a mushroom is a pretty clever substitute for saying you are kept in the dark, but still you have to wonder. If the reasoning of the democratic party leadership is that the makeup of the stimulus package matters less than its speed, then on radical Hamiltonian reasoning we might as well have congress appoint a team of Keynesian economists to craft the stimulus for speed and efficiency. I don't know that Hamilton would go that far, but if stimulus spending is within the constitutional power of congress, and it isn't a power that can excercised to the "the best and greatest advantage" by congress...then by pulling on the "necessary and proper" clause we can take the power from mushrooms, and give it to folks with calculators who believe in multipliers. The economists write and structure the bill and congress votes it up or down without any revisions or ridders.

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