Important Issues of the Day

UPDATE: After posting this, I went reading the news and found this article (second article on the page) on MSNBC.com that covers pretty much the same topic. Just thought I'd share it. --Liam.

It's time for me to once again decry the use of weeks of our legislators time on frivolous trash designed solely to energy their respective bases of voters for the upcoming election.

Look, I don't care which side of any of these issues you come down on. We have a war on terrorism going on (as the Administration keeps telling us). We have an eroding situation in Afghanistan and still have troops there. We have a quasi-civil war going on in Iraq. At home, we have a hurricane season starting up with New Orleans not yet back to even the level of readiness they were last year, and a forecast for another at-record-level year of storm activity.

In short, we have important things to be worried about. Heck, we've even got some immigration issues which are pretty important to figure out. Odd how it was a crisis and an emergency when there were unfavorable news items to be eclipsed (such as Jack Abramof and the Libby trial), but suddenly it's less so when there's summer vacation to be considered. Congress is talking about choosing the members of the resolution committee (the committee that resolves differences in House and Senate versions of bills) sometime in September. So much for important crises.

So what's on the agenda in Congress for the next several weeks? Gay marriage, flag burning and the estate tax. Really? In the grand scheme of things, these are the most important things you can be talking about? In the words of comedian Lewis Black, on the list of impact on this nation, these issues are on page 27, just after “are we eating too much fiber as a people”.

I would like to propose a new Amendment. This Amendment would make it illegal to discuss such trivialities at any time that the budget is in deficit spending, the national debt is over a trillion dollars and any time the country is at war.

Do we honestly care more (and risk more as a nation) about whether two men or two women are able to call each other spouse than whether U.S. Marines, in the uniform of our country, murdered innocent civilians in cold blood? Are we really at greater personal risk because someone might burn a flag than of another terrorist attack on one of our cities? Does the difference between families of deceased with estates over $5 million getting 60% vs 100% of the amount over that threshold really matter more than lobbying reform?

And the kicker is, with the possible exception of the estate tax bill, even proponents of the issues on the table do not expect them to pass. So not only is our Congress wasting time on less important issues, it's wasting time on less important issues that have no chance what so ever of passing. For example, the amendment to ban gay marriage is expected to receive at most 52 votes in the Senate. It requires a 2/3 majority, or 67 votes, to pass the Senate. Even with the most wildly optimistic projections, it hasn't a chance of passing the Senate.

Solve all of our other problems. Bring the budget under control. Do something about global warming (or come up with some scientifically valid proof that it isn't the problem virtually all existing science says it is). Bring the balance of power between the three branches of government back in line. Reform lobbying. Put as much effort into guaranteeing free and fair elections here as we put into ensuring them elsewhere. Figure out how to protect the nation from terrorism. Build FEMA back to the capable disaster recovery agency it reportedly once was.

And when you've done all of that, if you want to spend some time debating whether a gay man worth $10million should be allowed to burn a flag, marry his partner, and leave behind his estate entirely un-taxed, feel free.

But not while there's real work to be done.

Liam.