Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the only reason to pass massive omnibus bills, is to hide pernicious things in it. Every time you open the paper lately there is this or that omnibus bill being debated. Everything must be passed in a “comprehensive” bill. We and our representatives are told the World will end if it is not passed. We are subjected to pressure tactics by disingenuous elites who seek nothing like what they pretend to propose. There is a better way… To pass small, easily readable bills that can be understood by the vast majority of the people.
The “Affordable Care Act” is one such example. As the leviathan law is enacted by the bureaucracy the pages of regulation grow alarmingly. Even organizations and groups that initially promoted the bill, because in most cases they got waivers from it, are calling for it’s repeal now they understand their waivers are temporary. You know a bill is not good when the Elite that pass it exempt themselves from it. The labyrinthine rules and regulations have done incalculable damage to our economy and I maintain the Affordable Care Act is the primary reason this economic recovery has been so pathetic.
The Dodd Frank banking regulations create more problems than solutions. The results of Dodd Frank are in direct opposition to the stated goals. This titanic of legislation was supposed to prevent banks from getting “Too big to fail” and stop the systemic risk that such large financial institutions represent to the economy as a whole. Under Dodd Frank the giant banks have grown ever larger at an increased pace. The law’s provisions further lowers economic output by putting huge regulatory strains on small and medium sized banks. The very banks that loan to small businesses! Talk about pernicious, banks are discouraged from loaning to small businesses, under Dodd Frank. This is another reason our economy has performed so poorly.
Now our elected representatives are debating a massive comprehensive immigration bill. This bill is supposed to stop illegal immigration, put an end to defacto amnesty, bring hard working immigrants in from the shadows, stop welfare fraud, stop rampant identity theft, make our system more “fair,” and put a puppy in every child’s arms. Even a cursory look at history shows these are the least likely outcomes of such a bill. When Ronald Reagan passed a similar bill, with the same lofty goals, the results went wide of the target. The enforcement mechanism in that historic bill was draconian enforcement of the illegal immigrant labor laws on firms that hired them. Those businesses would be severely punished. They were at first, but as soon as the monied and elite felt the sting, the enforcement mechanism was tossed out. Does anyone believe, for even a second, the same thing won’t be done now?
Another pernicious result of the last comprehensive immigration bill was to encourage a tsunami of illegal immigration. Millions poured across the porous Mexican US border. Apparently rewarding illegal behavior seems to encourage illegal behavior. Although that may seem obvious to you and I it is a revelation to our lawmakers. The Heritage Foundation wrote a paper claiming that if this bill passed, the cost to the US would run to 6.4 TRILLION dollars, and were pilloried for it. The reason… almost all the illegal immigrants in the US today are low skilled and low wage laborers. Does the US have a dearth of low wage low skilled laborers? Of course not! That is absurd. The US has need of high skilled workers. Those that have come here and have no jobs will certainly remain on the welfare roles. To think otherwise is insane.
If the government passed small bills, the results could be anticipated, if they fall short. it would be an easy task to remove them and pass different ones that actually solve the problem. Take immigration for example. It would be easy to take away the incentive for people to immigrate illegally, by passing a law that anyone found to be in the US illegally, cannot ever become a citizen. Once that law is passed, examine the results, if it needs to be changed, change it. If it doesn’t work at all, repeal it and if it works, leave it alone and go on to the next step. Drastically raising the number of people who can come to the US of the type the economy needs. Keep it simple and it will simply work.
The elite are in love with comprehensive, omnibus laws however. They cannot see any reason to pass small, easily understood bills that work, when giant omnibus bills are so effective at hiding pork. The elite can claim to have done something when they have in fact made matters worse. This plays to their benefit however. Because the worse they make things, the more need we have of large comprehensive bills, to rectify the problems created by past giant comprehensive laws. Laws that continue the slide to a totalitarian state. You see, passing omnibus bills is a self promoting phenomenon, like fire… and no one wants out of control fire, except arsonists.
Sincerely,
John Pepin