Braindead, and passing laws to prove it
Patricia De Lille, all is forgiven. It appears the idiots that run our government aren’t any worse than the idiots that run the US Congress. Perhaps if you’re too stupid and unselfconscious for any real job, you put on a big toothy grin and get voted into a position where you can spend your days proving to the world just how Luddite and illiterate you really are. Check out this bizarro hearing of the Committee of Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.):
On Tuesday, July 24, 2007, the Committee held a hearing to examine recent developments regarding inadvertent file sharing over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, the impact of such sharing on consumers, corporations and government entities, and whether such sharing creates privacy or security risks for users.
No, seriously. They want to pass laws to make sure that “inadvertent file-sharing does not jeopardize the public’s privacy and security”. CNET News.com reports:
Also at the hearing, Mark Gorton, the chairman of Lime Wire, which makes the peer-to-peer software LimeWire, was assailed for allegedly harming national security through offering his product.
Wait till these people hear about e-mail. They’d have to ban the internet.
yup. oh, dont worry, once they catch on to this computer thing, then they’ll go after pens and paper.
Politicians are still the best case for small and limited government there is. Frankly, anybody who looks at the antics of Waxman et al and *still* wants to give them more authority and power probably shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
It’s also a wonderful argument for Congressional term limits. There’s something wrong about a guy like Ted Kennedy serving over 40 years in Congress, living off the taxpayer, having barely known what a proper career looks like. Whatever real world experience he had is long-forgotten, but he’s one of those charged with the important act of creating and revising laws. Is there any wonder that isolated people create out-of-touch laws?
Good point, but I wonder if term limits would really fix anything. Who was it that said anyone who wants to be a politician should probably be disqualified? The problem is what people - both voters and politicians - think the proper role of government is. My list of its ideal duties would be very short indeed.