Where Are the Expert Witnesses?

I write about the debacle currently moving through congress at lightning speed – the federal tax reform legislation. First the House proposed its bill and rammed it through without hearings, analysis or public debate. Then the Senate did the same but the bill was much different than the house version. On a strict political party vote, both houses of congress approved their bills with unanimity of republicans and no democrat support.

The measures now must be reconciled and a final form of the bill agreed upon. The vote will need to be taken in each house on the reconciled bill. Will it pass then? Most likely; such things are usually still the strange animal of partisan politics. No compromise. No intelligent discussion. Certainly no public input in this particular case.

What angers me the most is simply this: we have experts in the nation who, for the most part, are employees of the people. These experts are researchers and faculty members at prestigious educational institutions from coast to coast. Bankers of the highest caliber can do a creditable analysis of the legislation and offer the public their opinion and calculations as to the effects of the legislation on the body politic, consumers all, if the new bill is passed.

Economists of several stripes can also offer their opinions, expert analysis and projections of the effects of the legislation. There are other academic disciplines which could easily analyze the legislation and make good sense of what it is, what it means, and what its impact will likely be on the lives of 330 million Americans.

Do you recall any such sharing of opinions from these people? I don’t. The fact is the media did not seek this expert input to the public discussion on the subject. All the media did was express disdain for important legislation being shoved down the throat of the county strictly along party lines. Ideologues and pundits shared their opinions that the bill was flawed and should never see the light of day. But the media only chose to report on what politicians were claiming and saying.

You do know that politicians are not experts in much of anything, don’t you? They are not academicians, researchers, economists, bankers, investors, social workers, theologians or anything else. They are professional politicians with some background in a career, vocation or profession they abandoned to take on the mantle of the politician. Not a good basis from which to report on a complex matter of tax reform.

And because tax reform affects the lives of all 330 million citizens, it would be appropriate if congress had sought some input from us, don’t you think?

We have a very serious problem in America. There is serious disbelief and distrust among the people for their own government. And, of course, there is a matching disbelief and distrust by our elected officials of the American public. They don’t think we know enough to govern our own country. In turn, many of us don’t think many elected officials are capable of governing the nation.

It is not a standoff. The Constitution gives the elected officials the authority because we elected them to office to implement the constitution. Most of those elections, however, did not involve people who understood the people, the issues or the authority of those they were granting power to. That’s our bad; the American people can and need to do better. If you vote, you must study the issues and vote accordingly. If a politician doesn’t understand the issues they should not be elected. And if the choice among candidates is poor, then we, the electorate, need to ensure good people are encouraged to run for office for all of the right reasons. If they break their trust with us, then we elect them out of office next time around.

This is hard work. To vote is an important duty. It requires understanding the issues. And it requires we know and trust the person for which we cast a ballot. If we can’t do that, we should not vote in that election.

I dread saying this, but I fear we are experiencing a massive failure on the part of the electorate to do their work. Crooks and self-serving people currently hold most of the offices on the federal level of government. That is very bad for our form of government. A democracy needs serious voters.

With that failure, government is failing the people. It is also failing our culture, values and history.

Think of the people who gave their lives so we have the freedom and liberty to live our lives in a free society. Do you honestly think they would be proud of us and our nation today? I doubt it deeply.

I’m embarrassed for my nation. I am uncomfortable facing the rest of the world community knowing that we have failed them, too. America is no longer the home of the free and brave. It is the home of cowardly, ignorant people who see themselves better than others and making certain they get their pot of gold before anyone else.

It’s not pretty. I feel shame for my country. And I shudder at the work and cost our kids and grandkids will have to struggle with to fix this mess. It will take at least a generation, probably two to repair America to its once proud position. I hope this work will be done. But I no longer feel certain that hope is well founded.

Meanwhile, where is the media in all of this? Why did they allow this epic fail to occur without a clarion call?

December 6, 2017