The meaning of a word or a phrase has caused and/ or justified wars, made careers, killed careers, resulted in contentious litigation and changed the prevailing way of life.
Extensive and prolonged debate over single words or phrases has occurred in every legislature of every constitutional government. The interpretation of a single word or phrase has determined the outcome of every kind of litigation. Everyone recalls how central President Bill Clinton’s contention of how important the question of “what is is”, however questionable the effect of that ploy of that trained attorney was. A major obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians turns on Israel’s insistence that the Arabs agree in writing that Israel is “a Jewish state”. Scholars in every religion usually disagree on the interpretation of a single word or phrase to justify their own or vilify their opponents’ religious practice.
No one reading this has difficulty understanding the common knowledge stated above. Most readers, in fact, have many other examples running through their minds in the few seconds required to read the above.
If this is common sense and common knowledge, why bother to address such a mundane subject? Again, common sense and minimal good judgment raises that question.
Attention to the obvious seems necessary as the wise and even marginally wise citizens of the United States have watched their national legislators approve into law thousand plus pages of bills which they did not read. They agreed on a legislative schedule that did not allow enough time to read these bills and others that are hovering in the wings.
Perhaps only the congressional staffers and their advisers, who composed the various segments of the legislation, know the contents and the possible repercussions of the unknown provisions in their particular segments. Likely no one knew the entirety of the bills and pondered their possible short and long range repercussions. The gavel came down and the President’s handful of fountain pens made these gargantuan, unknown bills the Law of the Land.
Aliens from other countries or planets did not commit these abominations on the American citizenry and tax payers. The dolts who did it were duly elected members of the House of Representatives and Senate under the guidance of the President, his Cabinet, and advisers. Uninformed, naïve, well meaning voters put all those people in control of the nation and its citizens. Perhaps it is true that people get the government they deserve. Elected officials have millions, and recently billions, of tax dollars at their disposal to lavish government largess on their constituents and their districts. That assures each of them virtual immunity from losing their positions. Each constituent and each constituency enjoys the unearned rewards.
Passive and greedy as most citizens are, they fail to realize the horrendous effect that their individual sugar daddies can impose when the 535 legislators act collectively. There is no reason the cycle of interdependence between the voters and their legislators will change. Voters only have to spend a few seconds to render their votes. Legislators use the apparently bottomless coffers of the United States Treasury to quench the boundless greed of their constituents. No other symbiotic relationship is stronger than that between dependent voters and their dependent legislators. Roman Consuls, generals and dictators gave the Romans relatively inexpensive bread and circuses. Total health coverage, “social security”, bridges and airports to nowhere, pure air, protection against galactic changes, skateboard rinks, and myriad of other formerly locally financed projects in the twenty first century is considerably more costly.
It is not as if plenty of wise men have not warned against the possibility that fulfilling everyone’s desires could empty a treasury. Isn’t democracy great!
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