No Win Situation
There’s an annoying practice in legislatures these days…it’s not terribly new but it’s getting worse.
I’m talking about combining seemingly unrelated items into a single piece of legislation. It’s nothing but a trap, to avoid ever having to simply vote an idea up or down. It’s designed to provide incentive, but these days it’s a way to attack opponents.
Parents have done this with children for years…no dessert until you finish your vegetables. If you want something you desire, you have to put up with something you don’t.
In Congress, for example, if you want to support aid to Ukraine, then you have to put up with other spending things you’d vote against on their own. Or if you support funding for pre-natal and child care, then you have to vote for a bill with extreme abortion measures. Those are overly-simplistic examples, but not by much.
The game then moves to the news release and social media phase. “Congressperson X hates roads and bridges by voting against infrastructure” when the vote was cast against the extraneous material in the massive, combined bill. “Congressperson X hates women and children by voting against care” when the “no” vote was actually cast because of the other provisions of the bill.
And if the Congressperson in question votes in favor of the bill–they then have to explain why they were “for” the bad half of the bill…and risk being called out for that.
I haven’t even started on bills that are really about one thing, but the public perception is that the bill is about something else.
Single topic, easy to read and understand bills…is that so hard to expect?
