The new transparency in Washington DC – Where is it?
Posted By RichC on October 29, 2009
For those citizens trying to follow the political goings on in Washington DC, it is irritating to trying to figure out just what is being debated and discussed by those we elect to “do the people’s business.” The current health care debate and varies bills being proposed in the House and Senate are prime example of “backroom politics” that could be (and should be) open to discussion, input and shared with the citizens it will impact.
“I’m going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We’ll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.”
— Barack Obama, August, 2008
Some of us expected that President Obama and the Democrats, even if we disagreed with their philosophies, would at least offer open and fair discussions so citizens would know what was being debated. 
Naively, I even believed that opposing viewpoints would be included in the discussion and that there would be a semblance of bipartisanship. I was wrong … very wrong … there is even less transparency in this administration and congress while the billion and trillion dollar size of decisions are far larger than ever before.
Wake up America … no matter your political philosophy, at least expect — no … demand — that our elected representatives are forthright and truthful with those who they serve. If the majority in congress want more state control over more industries then they should have little problem convincing our citizens that what they propose is best for America — 
don’t do it in the shadows and ram changes through without vigorous debate, cautious contemplation or listening to what U.S. citizens have to say. Besides overhauling U.S. Healthcare through legislation, all of us should be concerned about the cost and how much of it will be past along to the next generation — something we should have learned from medicaid, medicare and social security (all yet to be correctly funded). The changes being proposed in health care are the largest in my lifetime — and the most expensive — therefore they deserve to be clearly considered and transparently understood.
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(Graphics above from a Washington Post has a helpful interactive graphic projecting costs and coverage prior to Sen Reid’s recent addition to Senate Finance Healthcare bill).
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