Read the Contract, Verdict for the plaintiff

There is no excuse for the irresponsible actions taken by the legislature for not reading every word before voting on any bill passed before them.. If it can’t be read by all, it should not be in print. What would happen if you were in court being sued for breach of contract? The judge is hearing the case and it comes up that you didn’t fulfill a part of the contract. You say, but I didn’t read the whole thing, it was too long of a contract to read. The judge would look at you and simply say, sorry sir, ma’am, but you shouldn’t sign anything unless you read it first. Verdict for the plaintiff.

Does that sound familiar? It should. We have been told this all our lives by numerous people in the course of our lives. What is the first thing an attorney would say if you hired one to represent you? They would ask, Did you read the contract? What would your answer be? It should be yes and the law suit should be a frivolous one because you did honor the contract because you read it. If you didn’t, your attorney would most likely say, I’ll take your case but I need a retainer first.

These are the things you see when watching those small claims court reality TV series. It’s not for the pure entertainment, it’s basic common sense, and it’s the law. Well, reading is not the law, that is common sense, the words of the contract is law, that’s why we have them, if they couldn’t be upheld in a court of law, what’s the point of having them.

If courts in small claims preach common sense and rule against those who are in breach of contract for not reading it, why do we hold our representatives to a different standard? We should demand that each page of any document such as a new proposed bill be read front to back, word for word. If this can’t be done then it should not be introduced.

I listened to a radio interview with Congressman Dave Reichert of Washington State’s 8th. District. He was asked about his voting yes to the Cap and Trade bill in which only eight Republicans voted yes. Congressman Reichert, during his interview commented on the fact that for a long time now, most bills are not read and it’s common practice to vote on bills not read because they are just too long to have time to read. Really Congressman? Maybe when 300 plus pages are added at three am in the morning on a Friday bringing the bill to a massive document with over 1500 pages.

This kind of practice should not be tolerated by the people they represent, us, the American People. We need to stand up and take action to change this practice. If a bill is too long, then those who are given the trust by the people to be responsible to act on our behalf, should take the time to read the entire bill before it is voted on. If the excuse for voting for a bill before it is read is, it is too long, then shorten it or get rid of it. The excuse that there is no time to read it due to it’s urgency is no longer accepted by us.

Case in point, The stimulus package. The urgency by President Obama to have that bill voted on and passed was an absolute insult to the American people. Four days went by before Obama used more of our tax money to fly to Denver in a ceremonial signing of that bill. To Date, only about 7% of that money slated to boost the economy and get unemployment rates down, have been used. Keeping in mind that the President said unemployment will not go above 8% with this bill. It is now 9.5 % and rising. In May, over 300,000 jobs were lost and in June it rose to 467,000 jobs lost and Obams say’s it’s working. It’s working? Don’t be fooled by the figures the Obama administration is spouting off to Americans. For every Police, Fire Fighter, Teacher etc… job

that is saved, thousands more are lost.

America, We cannot let this go on any longer. Speak up, write letters, send emails, call your representatives and let them know that if another bill, even those we support, is voted on before being read, we will take it to the polls and vote no to your future as our representative.