Require every public official to certify and itemize what he/she read, reviewed or heard before voting or acting on the subject matter.
Some readers will recall the extensive work I performed as an expert and consultant to state legislatures. I also served as an outside consultant on many political campaigns. I met and established relationships with leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties.
The one theme that remained constant through all political issues being discussed is that, in most cases, most of the people voting or acting on an issue, had no knowledge about the issue and no desire to learn.
They were merely concerned with retaining support from the establishment of their political party. Once instructed on how to vote or act, they did so. If asked by the press, they would either ad hoc make up a rationalization on the spot, or they would have been given a “talking points” memo that was short enough to memorize.
In some cases, legislation or even executive action orders are not read by anyone except the multiple authors who contributed to the verbiage appearing on them. Not even the authors had read the entire bill. This is as true in the course as it is in the legislature and executive branch.
The reason why immigration has never been solved is that nobody wants to solve it. The establishment of both parties believes it is too juicy an issue. Right now, it is producing hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and votes on both sides. Why give that up?
The same thing happened when we ended up with “private prisons.” That is clearly a contradiction in terms. Adding profit into the picture guaranteed that private investors would fund donations to those politicians who would vote for it, thus requiring laws that criminalize behavior that would put and keep people in prison. Prison is a public function, not private.
As for the justice system, imagine what would happen if the some of the behavior is now criminalized was exempt from criminal prosecution or at least lightened. Fewer prosecutions would mean fewer judges, fewer administrators, fewer guards, fewer prisons, fewer prison cafeterias, fewer paid calls from prison, fewer prosecutors, and fewer defense lawyers. That result is unacceptable to both Democratic and Republican public officials.
A declaration from the official that they were not aware of the entire content of the bill when they voted for it should be sufficient grounds to nullify his/her vote.
If we don’t do something like this by statewide resolutions, we can expect more of the same. Clearly, the officials are not going to help us. Good luck
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