I do not really remember when I felt the last straw settle onto my already weary spine.  It may have been the bullet train-like passage of TARP (one and two), the first stimulus bill or the omnibus spending package.  Whatever the catalyst, the last year of emergency measures highlighted why the disconnect between government and the people has the potential for creating an incredible amount of damage to our economy.  More importantly, because so much of the American culture is centered around our notion that we give the government rights not vice versa.  (Tom Jefferson, Ben Franklin and John Adams didn’t risk their lives to create another leviathan like the British system against which they rebelled.)

After much thought, I was moved to write a proclamation in the form of a petition to be sent to all 535 congressmen and congresswomen, as well as President Obama.  From the petition’s summary:

Sign this petition to demand that the U.S. Congress makes rules to require a 72-hour “reading break” for all legislation prior to voting for final passage.  This petition also demands that the President observe a “sunlight period” of five days before signing any bill into law.  During the “sunlight period”, the bill would be published in its entirety on the White House website for public review and comment.

President Obama campaigned on the promise to make government more transparent, especially in the legislative process.  Call on the President and your elected senator and representatives to create the rules to slow down the legislative process and give Americans a time to voice their opinions before, not after, bills are voted on and signed into law.

The petition can be signed online at the Care2 petition site (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bring-legislation-into-light-of-day).  A print-ready version of the petition (complete with signature table) is also proclamation-of-the-people. 

Because I am operating this campaign on a shoestring budget, we will have to rely on people who believe in the cause (Tea Partiers?) to volunteer to gather signatures and mail completed petitions to me. (Please contact me by email at bryan at unequaltime dot com for the mailing address.)

Once the signature-gathering phase is over – May 1st – the petition will be delivered to all 535 members of Congress and the President.  If enough signatures are gathered, there is every possibility that some or all of the petitions could be delivered personally to some or all of the target recipients.

If you sign the online petition, remember to also recommend signing the petition to everyone you know.  I was surprised by the number of confirmed liberals I know who were eager to sign the petition.  This is not a strictly partisan concern.

Thank you for your support.  Together we can keep our country from trading its most basic principles for short-term expediency.

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