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Solutions: Then and Now By Rizzuto Tue Oct 20, 2009 - To observe the political and intellectual disconnect between our modern representatives and our founding fathers, one need look no further than the solutions that emerge from their deliberations. For four months in 1787, 55 delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island did not send any) debated with great eloquence and passion some of the most important questions man had ever cared to ask. Even for the most learned philosophers, the answer to the questions of mans relationship to the state and the balance of individual liberty and security can prove elusive. But for their effort, the people were rewarded with what was a document that was as apparent in its clarity to the farmer pushing a plow in the field as it was to the professor pushing his quill in the university. I don’t mean to over-romanticize our founding fathers, as I’m sure their deliberation had its fair share of turmoil, but the contents of the 4 page document they crafted was nothing less than miraculous, establishing a constitutional republic that has lasted 222 years thus far. Today, we have a deliberative body of 535 people, debating one of the most superficial issues of our time; how to extend medical insurance coverage to a small minority of Americans. We’ve sat for almost a year as our representatives have engaged in back door dealings with special interests, less than truthful media campaigns, personal attacks on one another, and political back scratching. What we’ve gotten as a result of this deliberation is 1,500 pages of legal tedium that’s impenetrable to nearly everyone, including, in all likelihood, those who will be voting on it. I ask you, what are the chances that the answers to our problems are to be found anywhere in the monstrosity that our government has hoisted upon us? Do you trust a legislature that that won’t read the document to make the correct decision when voting on it? Do you trust an executive branch to fairly enforce what is clearly an intrusive and convoluted plan? Do you?
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