Apparently, Nancy Pelosi thinks she’s got Americans buffaloed.
Fox News has video (see below) of Ms. Pelosi saying we have to pass the health care reform bill “so we can see what’s in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”
First of all, that’s not what I would call “transparency,” Madam Speaker. Keeping from us the details of what this legislation will do until after it’s passed is somewhat like being asked to ingest the contents of an unlabeled bottle; for all you know, it might contain cyanide.
The lack of transparency brings me to my second point. The Speakers position, as enunciated in the video, conflicts with two of the five main principles of the Rule of Law.
The five principles are:
- Generality: Laws must apply to everyone equally, and not single out groups or individuals.
- Prospectivity: Laws must apply only to future behavior, not to past action (no ex-post facto laws).
- Publicity: Laws must be publicized, so the people can be certain of their application.
- Consent: Laws must be generally acceptable to the people who will live with them.
- Due Process: Laws must impartially applied and enforced according to established laws.
Judging from Ms. Pelosi’s comments, it appears that not only does this legislation violate the principle of Publicity (we can’t know what’s in it until it passes?), it violates the principle of Consent. How are we to give consent to being subject to legislation the application of which we can’t know until it becomes law?
