Heads Up

A Weekly edition of News and Views from around our country

October 4, 1996 #3

by: Doug Fiedor fiedor19@eos.net

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DERELICTION OF DUTY

Would you fire an auto mechanic who was "fixing" your car without first

knowing exactly what was wrong? Would you fire a physician who prescribed

drugs for you without first studying the actions and interactions of the

medications? Would you hire a lawyer to defend you in court who never

prepares for trial? Then, why do you allow your Members of Congress to vote

to approve bills that affect our lives without even bothering to first read

them?

Forget, for a moment, the fact that no person can completely understand

many of these bills without first doing a few hours studying of

corresponding laws. How about when no person in the room even bothers to

give a cursory read to the bill under vote?

Such is exactly the case with some of the most important bills to pass

Congress. Quite often, no Member of Congress reads or understands them

before the vote. These are busy people, these elected ones. No time to be

bothered with that foolishness!

Even on a good day, when there is plenty of time, the staff of a bill's

author will write a short summary to pass around. Some Members of Congress

will only read that. Others will read nothing. Yet, every Member of

Congress gets to vote on the bill.

Bills, and sections of bills, are studied in committee, of course.

And, depending on how many of the elected ones turn up for the committee

meeting, usually four or five Members of Congress know what was originally

in the bill. But, the bill presented for approval by the chamber as a whole

is often quite different from the one that passed a committee.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for unelected staff members to sneak a

few things they want into bills -- which then become law. That's one of the

perks of the job, folks! Congressional staff has been doing that for many

years. And, why not? Often no one, not even the supposed author of the

bill, will read it before the vote.

Prosecutors do, however. Judges, too.

This month was the end of session. One of the last bills to sail

through Congress was a 2,000+ page appropriations bill. Senate records show

that no person in the Senate had yet read the bill, but it passed. And the

President immediately signed it into law -- without anyone in the White

House studying it first.

A dozen or so oppressive add-ons were sneaked in. They all passed

along with the original bill. We citizens will not know exactly what all

was added for a while. But never fear; eventually, prosecutors will tell us.

GRAFT IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Tony Coelho, subject of Brooks Jackson's 1988 book "Honest Graft," is

back operating in Washington again. He was hired -- where else -- as a high

level advisor in the Clinton reelection campaign.

As Democratic House Whip, Tony Coelho was most famous for turning

practices that any normal American citizen would consider to be graft and

bribery into a Capitol Hill political art form. "Coelho specializes in

raising [soft] money, and spending it by the millions to elect Democrats to

the House of Representatives," Jackson writes. "He runs a modern-day

political machine, a sort of New Tammany Hall in which money and pork-barrel

legislation have become the new patronage." He is also as far to the

political left as anyone in Washington.

Coelho bragged of his practice of carrying around envelopes containing

one, two or five-thousand dollars each. These envelopes were then passed

out to other Democratic House Members as a reward for votes delivered, or a

bribe for a vote desired. He called it "campaign contributions." Federal

prosecutors called it "graft."

For these reasons, and a host of others, Tony Coelho was forced to

resign from the House in disgrace. The deal was resignation or prosecution

-- he choose to stay out of prison.

Word on the street in Washington is that Coelho has a direct line to

Bill Clinton any time he wishes to call. Birds of a feather, folks. Birds

of a feather. . . .

UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES

In the U.S. v. Lopez case, the Supreme Court knocked down a federal law

that prohibited the possession of guns near schools. "No Constitutional

authority" to make such a law, the Court said. The Commerce Clause cannot

be used to regulate items no longer in commerce -- in this case, an item

that has been sold to the end user.

Lopez is a good, fair opinion. And it should apply to every product,

not only to guns. The White House, of course, feels otherwise. The

decision would cause the executive branch to loose power over the people.

That is exactly the crux of the problem. There is much, much more to

this than just gun control. To apply the Lopez decision to all goods and

services equally could effectively gut the central government's control over

our everyday life. Regulatory agencies would not have much to do.

Government agents would have to be laid off. The EPA . . . well, you get

the idea. . . .

One reason we have not seen changes in the operation of government

after the Lopez decision is that the executive and the legislative branches

of government only follow Supreme Court decisions when they wish. And the

Lopez decision is one they definitely do not wish to obey!

Strict obedience to the Lopez ruling would drastically change the

function of the central government. It would almost be like returning to

the way government was pre Roosevelt (FDR). We can't have that, say the

powers that be. So, the "fix" is in.

A Senate memo says Bill Clinton mandates that Congress find "some way

around the Constitution" to restore the gun law struck down in Lopez. No

doubt! Because, in so doing, Congress would also reaffirm its (and the

administration's) authority to continue regulating everything under the

Commerce Clause.

So, Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) did just that, and then some. A

Congressional aid said that the fix is hidden in that huge appropriations

bill somewhere.

And the Constitution?? It's still interesting to read. But, in fact,

that has effectively been a dead issue since Roosevelt. You think not?

Pick any function of any regulatory agency. Then try to find anything

resembling Constitutional authority allowing the central government to do

that. Fat chance!

People of Wisconsin, please do the citizens of the rest of the country

a big favor and fire your unconstitutional senator. Sending people like

Herb Kohl to Congress is ruining our country.

DRUGS, THE CIA AND YOU

There have been some strange developments over the CIA cocaine scandal.

Good old fashioned outrage is developing! Consequently, Federalism may be

starting to work again. Cities, such as San Francisco. Los Angeles, and

even Cincinnati are putting the government on notice over the CIA's

involvement importing illegal cocaine into the United Sates.

Civic leaders are outraged, as they should be. They want heads to

roll, as they should. And they demand action now, but they will not get it.

Remember folks, when government wants to hide something from you the

citizen, they label it "national security." This is no different.

Also, this scandal permeates all three branches of government. If

everyone involved went to prison, as they should, the federal prison system

might end up needing a place the size of the Grand Canyon to hold them all.

Half of Congress knew about it. Half of the CIA knew about it. Some

in the FBI knew about it. Half of the DEA knew about it. Federal

prosecutors sprung arrested drug pushers. Federal judges, in cooperation

with federal prosecutors, turned loose convicted drug pushers. With a wink

and a nod, they all did this in obedience of that most holy of political

powers: National Security.

An old radio buddy from Detroit asked the only correct question last

week on a national radio program: "How can we trust this government?"

Hey, Joe! We cannot. Vigilance, Joe! Constant vigilance is what is

necessary.

We the People have become secondary to the goals of government.

There's been a roll reversal here, Joe. You're still a liberal, so you

missed it!

Originally, the federal government was supposed to serve the people.

Now, it is the people who, through taxation and regulation, are to serve the

federal government. So let's give up those delusions of grandeur feelings

that we are important. We are not. When the subject is a central

government goal, any number of us may be used or abused. We're an

expendable commodity, Joe. Remember that! This is only one example.

And Joe, since the central government refuses to obey the Constitution,

it no longer deserves the consent of the governed.