-By Warner Todd Huston
On September 25, we reported on the Walden Discharge Petition that Representative Joe Wilson informed us about in a conference telephone call. Wilson told us of a resolution that would force all bills that come before the House for a vote to be posted on the Internet for 72 hours before the members can vote on it.
Now it is becoming clear that the Democratic leadership is trying desperately to stop this effort at transparency.
From Wilson we found out that the rules change for procedures in the House of Representatives was about to be sent to committee but that the Walden Discharge Petition would send the resolution straight to the floor for a vote through the discharge petition process.
Today, Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner details the effort to quash transparency by Democrats in the House.
Nearly every Republican has signed on, but the Democratic leadership is unwilling to cede control over when bills are brought to the floor for votes and are discouraging their rank and file from signing the petition. Senate Democrats voted down a similar measure last week for the health care bill.
Of course, Democrats want this transparency measure stopped so that they can slide their efforts to lard bills with their favorite provisions without the public getting any opportunity to have a say about their underhanded efforts.
Democrat supporters point to the past where Republicans also pushed bills through with little transparency and scant time ahead of time before a vote is forced.
But, here is the thing, because something wrong was done in the past does not excuse continuing to do it. If Republicans used the lack of transparency in the past to force their favored bills through without much chance of people finding out what they are pushing, then shame on them. But now is the time to stop it once and for all.
NOW is the time to stop this culture of corruption. Sadly, Democrats are not interested in stop this culture of corruption, but are shamefully looking forward to exploiting it for their own gain.
Of course, there is one thought that immediately comes to mind when thinking this whole situation over and that is, does Pelosi feel at all bad that she is making a mockery of her president’s desire for transparency?
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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