No Loss for Words

I have to be honest; I have never spent a minute analyzing the Federal Budget.  Like most of our elected officials, I have been willing to leave the heavy lifting to “someone else” and trust that things would work out.  I guess I have been okay with passing it first then finding out what was in it later. 

It’s difficult enough struggling with dedicated funds, enterprise funds and inter-fund transfers of local budgets.  How on earth could any elected official understand the ramifications of voting “Yes” or “No” on the Federal Budget?

Is there a book at Barnes & Noble called “Understanding the Federal Budget for Dummies”?

Doesn’t that indicate that we have made the process too complex when our elected officials don’t even know what they are approving?

So how do we simplify the legislative process so that our elected officials at least understand what they are voting on when their leadership asks them to do so?  And that might be the real issue; voting a particular way because you are “asked” to do so or suffer the consequences.  

Or, do our legislators have too many committee assignments requiring that members of congress be “up to speed” on more numerous topics or more sophisticated topics than they can understand?  Is the work more intellectually challenging than they can handle? 

How do we reduce this down to a point where most of us could understand what is going on?  Is it reasonable for us to want bills coming out of our state legislatures and the congress that the rest of us can understand?  I think that would be a good first step.

Then maybe make sure that bills with budget implications be adequately labeled so everyone knows when they approve it that there is a financial component.

The thought of understanding what’s going on here boggles my mind.