Plain Language Legislation
Recent news has been spouting off figures from the new Congressional spending bill. There have been reports of compromises on both sides of the aisle and of unhappy Congressmen. I have read some of the articles with excerpts and figures from the bill, but I wanted to do my own research. What I found was quite disturbing. It wasn’t excessive amounts of money poured into meaningless programs, though I’m sure there was plenty of that in there. It was the way the document was written that I found the most appalling.
I do not have a college education, let alone the legal training necessary to cypher through the quagmire that is HR 83. That being said, I do not think of myself as unintelligent or illiterate. I found a link to the full text of the bill via Google and www.gpo.gov and what I found was a document written almost entirely in “legalspeak.” Legalspeak is the term I like to use for the English-based language of the law that is utterly unintelligible by those who have not been to law school. I managed to make it through about 35 pages before finally throwing in the towel. The thought running through my head was, “This may as well be Latin.”
This notion brought up thoughts of history in relation to Latin and obfuscation. The Roman Catholic Church is marred by historical corruption, most notably around the 13th to 15th centuries. These practices helped lead to the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther. Practices such as indulgences, or the purchase of absolution of sins, were made possible because the common, uneducated man and woman could not read the Bible. If they could, they would know that salvation could only be obtained through the admission of sin and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Instead, they relied on the Church to translate the Latin Bible and tell them what was written. Man is imperfect and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Some members of the Church took advantage of this and fleeced the commoners in favor of monetary wealth.
Much like the Latin Bible, only those learned in legal verse (or at least better educated than myself) can translate the confusing text of the bill. Why is it necessary to make it hard to understand? This instantly raises flags for me. Is there something in the bill that the common man should not see? This opacity is concerning to say the least. The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Bill of Rights are all written in the plain language of the time. This was done so that every American citizen could read it and know what was going on. This 1,603 page monstrosity is not so forthcoming.
I would like to ask all who happen to read this article to write your Representatives and Senators and demand that they pass legislation requiring all further legislation be written in plain language. The American people should be able to read for themselves what laws are being created and where their taxes are going. Requiring a translation of legislation being passed means that “We the People” are no longer in control of our government, but instead ruled by it. Remember that those in Congress enjoy their power and privilege because we put them there. Don’t let them take advantage of our generosity.
