“It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.”
Mahatma Gandhi
In most aspects of civilian, military and even government life, people are held accountable for their actions or inactions and the consequences which result from them. However, there is one arena where this otherwise universal axiom does not exist … the world inhabited by our elected federal, state and even local representatives!
When those in the private or military sectors who have the responsibility for certain deliverables, such as corporate or public budgets or financials, fail to meet their legally-prescribed deadlines there can be serious consequences, particularly where they adversely affect the health or well-being of others. These can lead to reprimands, demotions, terminations or even legal exposures.
Only in the legislative and executive realms of our federal and state governments, where temporary “employees” (the representatives, senators, governors and presidents who are elected) not only set their own compensation and benefits but can also enact legal bars to any consequences from their failures to meet mandated fiscal and other deadlines, often at the expense of their “employers” for whom they allegedly work (the voting public they purport to represent).
Within just the past six months, Congress’ inability to pass an on-time fiscal budget has resulted in both near-complete and partial shutdowns lasting 43 and 38 (and counting) days. Tragically, tens of thousands of federal employees and contractors have experienced significant financial hardships, unable to meet their everyday food, rent, mortgage, medical and other living and operating expenses.
Compounding these avoidable human disruptions is a president ignoring his Article II obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” unilaterally and unconstitutionally impounding Congressional mandated funding to various federal agencies and states governments … drastically affecting the lives of their employees.
Meanwhile, those responsible for passing timely budgets continue to received their salaries and generous benefits and have no problem attending lavish fund-raisers, golfing, or taking extended one and wo week vacations.
An elegant solution and one which could likely have broad, if not near unanimous public support across partisan party lines would dictate when budget deadlines, including their executions by the president or the respective state governor are missed, those legislators and chief executives would have their salaries stopped. If, after 30-days, the impasse continued, all accrued and future salaries of those individuals would be forfeited and their medical, retirement and other benefits suspended until such budgets are passed and signed into law.
Parliamentary maneuvers such as using stop-gap continuing resolutions or openly immoral tactics (as the Massachusetts legislature has done stopping the chambers’ clocks 11:59 PM on their June 30th deadline) would be banned!
The argument legislatures could pass a timely budget which the president or governor refused to sign, should not be an excuse or mitigate their collective responsibilities and should be legally precluded.
Interestingly, it might require various political factions to learn “compromise” is not a “four letter word” and by working together they can do more for all of their constituents, whether or not they voted for them … by passing budget measures by enough votes to override any potential executive veto.
Sadly, can anyone imagine our current crop of elected legislators showing enough statesman-like, political or moral courage to enact such responsible changes?
Thomas Paine famously noted, “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
