Saturday, September 29, 2007
Pork good or bad?
There has been some discussion in the past year about porkbarrel politics. It is very fashionable when running for a position to speak out against this political practice. It seem on the outside to be a gross missallocation of Federal funds. However, some would argue that it is a necessary evil to get things done in small congressional districts that might not see this Federal money otherwise. So is porkbarrelling a waste of tax dollars or is it a useful way to fund small projects that would otherwise never be funded?
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5 comments:
Well Pork Barreling is better than Logrolling. The thing is why is this done in secrecy? I believe it is because although these funds may be necessary to some districts there may be other areas that need the money more. This Pork Barreling although not intirely bad isn't in the nations best interest and if it was why wouldn't it be public? It is like showing favoritism to one of your children when all of them need something, and one may need it more than the other, but is deprived of it thanks to your favoritism.
I believe pork-barrel legislation to be a loophole in the legislative system. Like the "Christmas tree effect," the single most goal is to benefit yourself and your constituents by coupling with others to "back each other" or attach your own beliefs.
Therefor not only is pork-barreling a monetary discretion it is also a loophole which could be seen as unconstitutional.
-JHebert
I agree, Pork-barreling is a loophole and if it were such a great and humble action, why isn't it made public?
There is nothing secret about pork barrel stuff. It's in the budget and the budget is public. They even go out of their way to let their constituents know about it, too. Sign up for a e-mail update from your member of Congress or the legislature and they'll regularly send you announcements about the pork they bring home to the district. They won't call it pork, but it is whether they say it or not.
Also, passing pork barrel projects isn't really any different than logrolling, which is the process through which pork gets passed.
The Constitution is neutral on issues like this, so there is no way that such a thing would be unconstitutional.
I'm also not sure you guys are using the word "loophole" correctly here. This would be a loophole if there were some rule against this type of activity and they found a sneaky way to do it legally anyway, but there is nothing in the law that prevents this kind of thing.
This is what I am talking about.
>Sign up for a e-mail update from your member of Congress or the legislature and they'll regularly send you announcements about the pork they bring home to the district.
Sometimes they are bringing the pork home for you so I guess you can view it selfish if you want but many people may be helped through this process. I guess it all comes down to if the pork was being brought home for a different district would you feel disgruntle? If the pork were being brought home to you would you still feel disgruntle if you ever did in the first place?
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