Good News for Some but Probably Not for Most

This overstuffed turkey of a bill would have been a nightmare addition to the national debt as it was structured. It needs to be revised and cuts need to be made well beyond eliminating the pork provisions. This is a good time to send a message to your Congressperson to let him or her know that you will be paying attention; that you want these bills to be brought up one at a time as has been the custom, back to back, in a way that does not cause other required bills aimed at 2012 to be fall behind their statutory completion time lines. I think most will agree that waiting to fund the government beyond the midnight hour is not a good idea or a very professional means of legislative practice.

You could also remind them that we expect responsible spending, bills trimmed of fat, and deep cuts made into the overall national debt. I’d suggest that you use the threat of removing them from office should they fail, but we already told them that no matter how egregious their records are on taxing and spending, their district seats are safe so long as they stay residents of Massachusetts – no matter how many districts they have homes in.

Well, in the absence of beating up on our U.S. Representatives, I suppose we could opt to harass Senator Scott Brown, the lone Republican member of our congressional delegation. We could sit and send threats and demands of fiscal prudence and austerity votes on his part; while, we simply accept votes to the contrary by the rest. After all, he’s a Republican; so, it doesn’t matter that we’ve already sent the opposite message to our coven of spendthrift Democrats. Republicans in Massachusetts are used to being used as statements that we don’t really mean, and he’s probably expecting to be punched and undermined by we the voters. So, why disappoint him by acting like rational adults?