Downsize DC, whose mission statement is "We believe the federal government has grown too large, too intrusive, and too expensive. We believe in constitutional limits, small government, civil liberties, federalism, and low taxes," has weighed in on the passage of the UIGEA.Downsize DC appears to be a Libertarian organization, and like, well, everyone who isn't in the tiny ultra-minority of
The organization hopes to pass a bill which would require every congresscritter to actually read and be aware of the full text of each bill that was presented to them for a vote. Believe it or not, most congresscritters don't read the full text of every bill they're given, and in fact the Republican Rubberstamp Congress of the last six years has frequently taken advantage of that fact to force odious and unrelated amendments, like the UIGEA, onto important bills and into law.
I'm hopeful that Frist and his allies have grossly misplayed their hand here. I'm hopeful that there just aren't enough Bob Jones University graduates in the population to outweigh the rest of us, and I'm hopeful that Frist and his allies pay a serious electoral price with this move.
The fact that liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and formerly-non-political poker players have all united against this intrusive prohibition and its sponsors should mean something, especially at at time when half of the country hates the other half.
If you'd like more information, or to get involved with Downsize DC, you can find what you're looking for in the link below.
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
1. While, as you say, the Republican congress of the last six years -- really four years since Jumpin' Jim Jeffords swung the balance in the Senate to the Democrats for the first two years of the Bush administration -- have often attached unrelated ammendments to important bills, they are hardly alone in this. It has been done for decades under both Democrats and Republicans. This, I would agree, is one of the worst instances in my recollection, but it's nothing new and nothing peculiar to Republicans.
Posted at 3:16PM on Oct 27th 2006 by Patch