June 18, 2007
I, like a good many other folks, have been disappointed in the recent performance of the U.S. Congress. But John Podhoretz, discussing the immigration bill, sees reason for hope:
But there's something else notable here - something that should gladden the hearts of libertarians and all those who are suspicious of big government.
The takedown of this bill is a template for future actions against major pieces of legislation. And like so many templates for action these days, it was made possible by the Internet. Here's how. . . .
The past 20 years have given us many examples of disastrous comprehensive legislation - most notoriously the 1996 Telecom bill, which began as an effort to bring the U.S. communications system into the digital era and ended as the most preposterous and corrupt series of giveaways and bribes in American history. Nobody knew what was in the bill even when it was signed.
That was a decade ago. Now consider what happened with the immigration bill. It was released within minutes of its completion - and it was quickly hacked to bits by paid experts, think tankers, lay thinkers, lawyers and logicians.