Connective Visions

I’ve been pondering my Swedish friend Pelotard’s marvelous blog about his American grill – that is, ever since I finished laughing over it. I’ve also savored the vision of how we might change our commentary on government policies to the type former Prime Minister Carl Bildt received. Less talk, more lunch boxes would be greatly appealing these days.

Pelotard is absolutely right about our lawmakers. We are somewhat deceived by the national media, which feature them so often and pose such urgent questions to them that it suggests an atmosphere of fruitful activity in Washington. In reality, the Congress is a tedious group that produces an awful lot of paperwork – and very few results. (And when they do produce results, it’s likely to be along the lines of how to cook steak. That’s why we’re frequently happier if they don’t do anything.)

The Library of Congress tracks every “business” action of the 111th Congress on its THOMAS Web site. Want an eye-opener as to what’s really going on in Washington, D.C.? Read the “Current Activity” section. A sampling for the House follows.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES – Wednesday, June 16, 2010

10:33 A.M. -
Ms. Bean asked unanimous consent that the instruction in the amendment printed in part B of House Report 111-506 relating to page 11, line8, be considered to refer to section 4(d)(2)(A) of the matter proposed to be inserted by the amendment printed in part A of such report, as amended by the amendment in part B of such report. Agreed to without objection.

…

10:35 A.M. –
GENERAL DEBATE – The Committee of the Whole proceeded with one hour of general debate on H.R. 5297. The Speaker designated the Honorable Ed Pastor to act as Chairman of the Committee.

House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union pursuant to H. Res. 1436 and Rule XVIII.

11:29 A.M. –
DEBATE – Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 1436, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Israel amendment.

Amendment offered by Mr. Israel.

An amendment numbered 1 printed in part C of House Report 111-506 to add veteran- and women- owned businesses to the groups that will receive outreach under the Small Business Lending Fund established by the bill. It adds veteran-owned businesses to those businesses that should receive consideration in the Fund, adds veterans to the study on lending assistance, and requires the study to report not just on the number of loans made to women-, veteran- and minority-owned businesses, but the percent of loans that go to them as a part of the program.

11:33 A.M. –
POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS – At the conclusion of debate on the Israel amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Israel demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until later in the legislative day.

Thirteen more amendments followed, one more of which was postponed. As for good old H.R. 5297 – “to create the Small Business Lending Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make capital investments in eligible institutions in order to increase the availability of credit for small businesses, and for other purposes” – it was just left.

But what is H. Res 1436, which took up two and a half hours and so many amendments?

You’re going to love this.

It’s an eight-page resolution to allow the House to consider H.R. 5297. In other words: eight pages, 13 amendments, and two and a half hours just to allow them to talk about it.

H.R. 5297, by the way, is currently 60 pages long. Don’t bet on it staying that short. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590.ENR), popularly known as “Health Care Reform,” is 906 pages long, in considerably smaller print – doubtless required after the 2,409 pages of Senate amendments.

The United States presents a paradoxical image to the world. On the one hand, we seem to run ourselves mostly by slogans: “Just do it”; “Just say no”; “Let’s do it to them before they do it to us” (oops, that was Hill Street Blues, wasn’t it?). States put slogans on bumper stickers and license plates, some of which are rather unfortunate in changing times. Politicians run on them, and their followers cling to them – often to the politicians’ detriment. President Obama’s “Yes, We Can” is becoming questionable in the face of fixing both the economy and the BP oil spill – though no more so than George W. Bush’s “Yes, America Can” was on the world scene during the Iraq War, when “Well, we can, but should we?” might have been more apt.

In contrast to these sound bytes stand the verbose and burdensome procedures and products of the U.S. government. The instructions alone for the U.S. individual taxpayer’s 1040 form number 175 pages. Throughout these instructions are frequent, occasionally detailed, and unintentionally humorous references to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 - a commendably brief, four-page act that doubtless is ignored because it does not effectively keep a door open.

Maybe Americans rely so much on slogans because we can’t fathom most of the output of the federal government. Then again, we don’t often try to read that output. We have H&R Block and TurboTax for the forms, and interpreters known as “news commentators” for the other stuff. Odds are, the average American has no idea what the laws of the country actually are.

I do believe U.S. politicians and the media would do well to get over the locker-room confusion that length equals worth, and to remember Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Following a two-hour, 13,607-word speech by politician Edward Everett (remember him?), Lincoln summed up the Civil War in 10 sentences that in my school days were part of our standard memorization in American history. Abraham Lincoln got things done. (It should be noted, though, that many in the media didn’t think much of him at the time.)

So yes, Pelotard. Oddly enough, given our apparent problems, it seems our lawmakers have too much time on their hands. “Freedom of speech” has morphed into “obligation to talk” in our culture, everywhere from TV to Facebook.

Maybe that’s why we’re getting bad at solving our problems: we replace thinking about them with endless talking about them.

*************

Oh – one final question.

Is it really necessary for IKEA to give me a 30-page instruction manual on how to operate the Kaffe French-press coffee pot?

A belated happy Swedish National Day (June 6)!