Yesterday’s defeat of a massive funding bill designed to restore liquidity to the nation’s financial markets has sparked a vigorous debate about who is to blame and which of the political candidates will benefit. A critical fact has been ignored in all of the name calling and finger pointing. The American people hated this bill. News outlets across the spectrum reported that congress has been besieged with emails, letters, and phone calls expressing outrage at the prospect of a trillion dollars of taxpayer money being used in yet another bailout scheme. Two separate cable news channels reported that public opinion, as measured by congressional correspondence to both Republicans and Democreats, showed clearly the failure of the political leadership to convince the public that this bill was a good idea.
The news media responded with endless analyses of the American public’s failure to understand the gravity of the situation and our failure to understand just how badly in need of immediate rescue we are. Rubbbish. The American people are not uninformed nor are they ignorant of how business works. We are asking a very serious question, however. Simply put: Why this bill and this bill only? It may be the best solution, but no one is debating alternatives. When Americans are asked to fork over control of their collective checkbooks to the tune of a trillion dollars, they have a right to know that all options were on the table and that the best one was selected. As a people, we do not tolerate being told by the government to shut up while they take care of us.
There has been a huge leadership failure, and there is enough blame to be shared by all. The biggest failure was the attempt to force an enormous spending bill, with the most sweeping powers ever granted to the Secretary of the Treasury, through congress without public debate. Hearings may have taken time, but in the end, a week’s worth of hearings and debate might have taken no more time than will have been wasted due to the rancor caused by this process.
In the end, it boils down to this. Ninety-five Dmocrats voted ”no” on this bill for the same reason over a hundred Republicans did so. Their constituents told them that if they voted for this bill, “Don’t bother to come home.” Americans know that action needs to be taken. They want a say in what that that action is to be. People don’t want to be “saved” by their government if that means their government acts precipitously, against their expressed wishes. Urging representatives to ignore their constituents is fundamentally at odds with the basic principles of American government. I seem to recall that the American system prides itself on being government by the people. Listen to them.
