If there is any doubt that our elected officials in Washington are nothing more than a pack of ignorant children playing a dangerous game, I draw your attention to a website launched by House Republican Leadership called YouCut.
This particular game allows disgruntled Americans to suggest which Federal programs should be cut and encourages others to vote on the suggestion. Each week, the "winning" program is introduced as legislation designed to cut the program.
On the surface, it sounds like government by the people. A good thing, right? But "the people" often don't have the depth of background on particular issues to render an informed decision. We elect our peers to go to Washington, learn the real story and represent us so we don't have to be experts on all the nuances in play on any given day.
But House Republicans have apparently abdicated this responsibility we have bestowed upon them, preferring to let the masses take the fall for any really stupid cuts they make.
Like one of the newest programs to make the YouCut list: America's Tourism Office.
Let's be honest here...if there is any group of people in this country (outside the hospitality industry) that understands that this program helps CUT the deficit, it's the children at play in DC. Joe and Jill Public don't get it...and, we shouldn't expect them to. It's a very complex model. One that we expect our elected officials to understand. One they did last year when they approved the program in a strongly bi-partisan vote.
But now? One of the most important economic impact pieces of legislation of the Obama Administration is up for grabs.
While I surely hope that, if the Tourism Office "wins" this sick competition, the House will do the right thing and ignore the subsequent bill...it certainly wouldn't surprise me at all if they cut the program but maintained the assessment program that was put in place to fund it.
Sad that I have so little faith in the people who represent me...but they don't. They're just having way to much fun screwing with each other to give a shit about the country they serve.
To give a shit about you and me.
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