There Ought To Be A Law
First, my apologies. This is going to be a poor excuse for a column, and as a result won't even be posted on Huffington Post, as I normally do on Mondays. We're still dealing with the maintenance backlog here, and preparing for an upgrade. So I didn't even have time today to write a normal column. Which is why I'm apologizing up front.
Instead, today, I'd just like to throw a question open to everyone. Here in California, one of our state legislators would hold a contest each year called "There ought to be a law." Average citizens could write in and propose legislation on any topic, no matter how small or trivial, and the winner would be actually written up and introduced as a bill to the state legislature. Sometimes, it even worked, and a new law was born as a result -- mostly commonsense things that people assumed were illegal already. And mostly small issues that annoy normal people, but which never seem to rise to the level of being noticed by lawmakers.
I thought of all this after reading today's story on Congresswoman Anna Eshoo's attempt to pass a law to make television advertisers turn down the volume on their ads, to match the program's level of sound. While not being an enormous issue or anything, it reminded me of the "there ought to be a law" contest.
So I throw it open to everyone. If you could write a bill for Congress to consider, on a mundane or commonsense issue to citizens everywhere, what would you propose? No idea too small... no idea too silly... just toss it out there for discussion.
[Serious columns will resume here tomorrow, but this gives us something to do in the meantime.]
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
There ought to be a law that ALL Politicians live in the manner that their legislation efforts would force others to live.
For example, should DunselCare pass, then every elected official must be bound by the same provisions and limitations of said legislation, regardless of their ability to buy better care.
Michale....
OK, I got another one..
ANY SpecOps soldier that, in the performance of their duties, injures a terrorist scumbag are not to be brought up on charges!!
Anyone ever read the Nelson DeMille novel, WORD OF HONOR??
There is a quote in there made by a Chaplain that made me really think...
"In war, all actions are pre-forgiven."
Makes ya wonder, eh?
Michale.....
Michale, that's absurd.
Buying better if you can afford it is a provision. And no current benefits are being reduced. Its not DunselCare. If even one person were better off due to it, it would have served a purpose. As it is any reform will serve the very real purpose of beginning a much needed overhaul of our healthcare system.
You can criticize anything for what's its not; nothing is perfect. But this isn't a winger web site. If all you've got is bullet points and catch-phrases expect to be called on it.
And no current benefits are being reduced.
Apparently, yer not up on current events..
What about the hundreds of billions in Medicare cuts that DunselCare will require??
If even one person were better off due to it, it would have served a purpose.
At a cost of over 1 TRILLION dollars!!??? I cannot think of ANY person (god included) who would be worth that much taxpayer money...
Well, maybe my lovely wife, but that's a different issue. :D
And, don't forget.. All of the costs will be up front, within the first few years of DunselCare.
After that, THEN the "benefits" of DunselCare will start trickling down to us peons.
The entire idea at the beginning was to reform health care..
Now, the entire idea behind DunselCare is simply to give Democrats a desperately needed "win" that they can ride to the 2010 elections.
Ironically enough, DunselCare might be more of a burden than a blessing. Because, without the public option, Democrats might find that it is their own base that is sealing their doom...
And absolutely NO ONE can blame this on the GOP.. Because, as has been stated in here time and time again, the GOP is "dead" and "irrelevant"...
No, this SNAFU is one that the Democrats will own all by their selves...
On a completely and utterly unrelated note....
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN is a MUST SEE movie.... :D
Michale.....
There ought to be a law banning CAPITAL letters in comment postings ;)
-David
OK, you guys, this was supposed to be a light interlude.
Allow me to show you what I mean.
There ought to be a law...
...banning all cell phone use in moving vehicles, movie theaters, restaurants, airplanes, and (for good measure) bathrooms. First offense -- confiscation of phone. Second offense -- donating 100 phones to a women's shelter. Third offense... (I leave that one open to suggestion).
...making all political ads on TV free, for all legitimate candidates. This will largely fix campaign financing, since it's usually the biggest expense in a campaign. To the TV companies, I would say: suck it up! The People own the airwaves, not you.
...requiring everyone in Congress to appear in public at all times dressed in a jacket with corporate logos on it, signifying all recent campaign donations. The bigger the contribution, the bigger the logo would have to be. Call it the "Dress Like NASCAR Drivers Act."
Come on, you guys can come up with your own, right?
:-)
-CW
there ought to be a law that teachers can, at their own discretion, and after other methods of discipline have been tried, kick a disruptive student out of a course for the year. the student can retake the course the following year if necessary. i'm glad there's no corporal punishment anymore, but there has to be some real power in the hands of the classroom teacher, which must not be undermined by legal or administrative considerations.
i have one more modest proposal for an education law: anyone and everyone in educational leadership, from assistant principals on up to superintendents, should be required to spend at least one period per day teaching k-12 students in a classroom.