NYT Op-Ed (Tierney): Your Page, M’Lord [Interesting Read]
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/opinion/03tierney.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=login&pagewanted=print
This is precious:
“By going to Capitol Hill, [the pages] see how the process [of how a bill becomes a law] has changed: (i) a bill is introduced to build highways, (ii) a congressman receives a donation from a constituent who wants to open a go-kart track, (iii) the congressman persuades his committee chairman to skip in a $350 million ‘earmark’ for an ‘alternative sustainable transportation research facility’ in his district, (iv) the chairman quietly adds similar earmarks for all members of the committee, (v) the bill is passed unanimously, (vi) the president complains about the ‘wasteful spending’ but signs it into law anyway, (vii) the congressman attends a fundraiser at the new go-kart track…What lesson has the page learned? That Congress is the closest thing…to a medieval court: an enclave governed by arcane ancient rules of seniority, a gathering of nobles who spend their days accepting praise and dispensing favors to supplicants.”
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