Sunday, September 19, 2010

Post November 2: Keep their feet to the fire

Some post Right Nation 2010 ruminations:

Author and Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund spent about 90 minutes with seven bloggers--I was one of them--in a wide ranging conversation.

Fund didn't make any predictions about what will happen on November 2, but everyone in that room expects a shift, perhaps a massive one, to the Republican Party. He discussed the importance of accountability after Election Day, which got my mind running.

Many conservatives running for the House and Senate are pledging to swear off earmarks, reading bills they vote on, and having bills posted online 72 hours before they come to a vote so ordinary Americans can read them.

Since I expect that I have some new readers of Marathon Pundit after my 30th high school reunion last night--half the people there knew about the blog--the others asked, "What is a blog?"--I feel it's important to explain what an earmark is. Definitions vary, but they are provisions in a bill that are inserted into legislation--often they have nothing to do with what else is in the bill--that are pet projects of a legislator. Earmarks often are added into a bill without debate or review. For instance, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) added a $3.8 million earmark to preserve the half-demolished Tiger Stadium in Detroit. As if Detroit didn't already have enough rubble to manage...
So, if freshman Senator Janie Jones of Great Plainsia does something similar in 2011 after campaigning against earmarks in 2010, raise hell. Or, keep her feet to the fire. Make her accountable.

Keep their feet to the fire. Ha! I've created a bumpersticker.

Be civil, but be firm.

Levin's earmark was just one of 8,000 in the massive 2009 omnibus spending bill. At a presidential candidate debate in 2008, then-Senator Obama famously declared about earmarks, "And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."

We'll deal with Obama in 2012.

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