By the end of the day I hope to have my comments ready to send to the FEC and my representatives regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on their site this week.
The more I read the proposal, the more I am amazed at the arrogance of our lawmakers and the bureaucrats in DC. I was thinking about the whole issue in the larger picture this morning, and tried to remember what information was available to us in the ’70s when the rules were modified once before. All of this is made public through the Federal Register, but the average citizen really didn’t have timely access to be able to contact anyone. Those who lived and worked in Washington at the time could make do, which means legislators, lobbyists, and the media. We’ve seen how well MSM covers this issue now (have they?), so what did they do then?
I am convinced the internet is villified daily by our folks in the Capitol. And at rulemaking offices throughout Washington. Blogs in particular. The ability to access the Federal Register, the Library of Congress, fundraising records, and Thomas (legislative information) gives us the ability to learn things these people may not want us to know. Blogs spread that information (I’m doing it right now), and we aren’t dependent upon the talking heads and New York Times.
For the first time in our history, all this data can be viewed by anyone with internet access. And we can discuss it and argue about it, and let our representatives know what we think about it.
Wow. Why isn’t everyone doing it?
I think one of the reasons everyone isn’t doing it is because of information overload… I’ve had to do some light research on Thomas.loc.gov for my last job, and laws are written in such dense legalese and at such great length that most of us are simply overwhelmed.
There is, or so I’ve heard, a movement within the legal profession to write contracts in plainer English these days, but it’d be surprising if our legislators took up that torch anytime soon. They’d much rather us be in the dark.
Comment by Bogey — April 8, 2005 @ 8:05 am
You’re right. One of the problems I’ve had in analyzing the proposed rules is that very thing. Legislators never repeal a law and rewrite it better, they simply amend it, which means that you must sift through the old law as well as the new one to make any sense out of it. And it is also a reason why we commoners don’t get involved unless it affects us directly. This is one of those situations that affects everyone, whether they blog or not. Many won’t grasp that.
Hopefully, I can distill some of this one to help.
Comment by Bunker — April 8, 2005 @ 9:30 am