Pols should read bills before voting

It's amazing how the mere length of the stimulus and cap and trade bills tells me all I need to know about the state of government. Twelve hundred pages tell me no one read the bill or really knows what is in the bill or even who wrote what is in it.

Our elected representatives pass legislation, and then, like archeologists, slowly but surely figure out what was in the bill they signed.

Approximately 300 pages of the bill arrived at 6 a.m. on the day of the vote. It's rumored that lobbyists wrote large portions of the stimulus bill. Many of the changes were inked in near the last minute. Do our elected representatives think we elect them to rubber stamp legislation with consequences that will reach into the pockets of the next generation? Many of them are lawyers and should know the dangers of fine print and "minor changes" that all parties were not afforded the opportunity to read (or didn't see the need to read).

Similar to the admonition, "if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't," here is a new one: "If it's too long to read, it won't get read."

I propose that all elected officials sign affidavits confirming that they have, in fact, read every page of any legislation they vote on. But the sad truth is, they write long-winded bills because they know they can pass on the title of the legislation alone, rather than the content. They intend for these bills not to be read before voting. If the health care legislation is anything like cap and trade and the stimulus bill in length, taxpayers beware: pork can be measured in pages as well as dollars.

Larry Grogan

Glendale Heights