Heh. Of course, back in 2007, Andrew Sullivan was calling President Bush “The Weimar President.” Which, curiously, would make the successor administration to Bush, in Andrew’s eyes at least, the equivalent of…?

The United States Government is of, for, and by the People. The public cannot participate in a government that runs on policies that are hidden. The government should be proud to release its carefully researched and supported policies. We deserve this as a free people. The press and public should be able to review these documents.

I hope people of all parties and positions could agree that this is fundamental. It is non-partisan to demand that the President and all politicians show how they have carefully researched their proposals.

It is not our job to read tea leaves and pick apart 1000 page bills written in Old English to figure out what the bills are really saying. The whole idea of “legislative language” is to obscure what is going on. Whatever I extract or infer, I am drawing my own conclusions, and the government can say that I am misguided.

The government demands detailed, researched Environmental Impact Statements before starting a building. We should have Official Policy Impact Statements before our representatives change our society.

We need proposed results, expected evolution, methods, justifications, comparative studies, past successes of similar policy, funding sources, expected difficulties, the works.

The bills are not enough. They are implementation, not coherent policy. We have been directed to look at the bills as a tactic to make the press and public scratch for the underlying ideas. Then, the government can deny that we have interpreted the bill in the correct way.

Did Obama (or any politician) start with such a policy study, or not?
If so, then where is it? If not, then he is a fool.

Is Obama legislating from some scribbles on a cocktail napkin?
Does he want to pass anything, then rearrange it later to do what he wants?

Where is the policy paper?
If they don’t know: OK, so where is the cocktail napkin?

A Few Words About Policy