** In 1970, the United States congress passed a bill called the Legislative Reorganization Act. It is not a bill that attracted much attention and it is a bill that virtually no one would even be aware of today. Its objective was overwhelmingly accepted as a remedy for the public’s disdain for the lack of accountability by politicians and the perpetual recurrence of corruption in all things political.
This action has cascaded globally throughout most of the free world and is still universally considered as a positive step in the rules of governance. These various laws have been passed with a goal of improving “Transparency in Government” and are often referred to as “Sunshine Laws.” The underlying principle has been universally accepted and continues to this day as a generally accepted requirement of a democratic society by all.
Given the circumstances in the USA in the 50’s and 60’s, the search for improvement in the political process can easily be understood. Years of racial tensions, the assassination of a president and the Vietnam war were characterized by continuous protesting and public violence. The population looked to their politicians and their political system to address these issues but there was little indication of progress. This change in the rules of governance seemed logical and was enacted without much opposition. The concept was to monitor how representatives voted on every issue so the public could hold them accountable for their actions.
One aspect of this approach, that appears to be absent from the enactment of this change, seems to be the understanding of, “Why transparency was not already part of the Rules of Congress or Parliamentary Procedure”. This paper hopes to address this question and highlight a very significant oversight when this fundamental characteristic of the established political system was changed.
** The information related to the US Congress has been developed by The Congressional Research Institute. Their site contains numerous papers and videos on these historical facts. Visiting their site would be highly recommended.
Today, there is a growing movement that points to this seemingly benign change as the action that shifted the concentration of power from the general public to society’s elite and wealthy special interest groups. To understand how something so significant was overlooked, we must look closer at the question raised above.
The US constitution and its rules of procedure were written by a group usually referred to as the Founding Fathers. Most of them had a British background so much of their work had a grounding in the British parliamentary form of government. As much as their mission was to break away from the Parliamentary Monarchy form of government that they felt was oppressive to the colonies, they also wanted to assure the fundamental concepts that provided a system that represented the people.
The House of Representatives and the Senate relate very closely to the House of Commons and the House of Lords in their structure, roles and procedural rules. Although it was not a documented aspect of the rules of congress, voting within the walls of the government was done by a “Yeas & Nays” system. Most people believe this was an open voting system where each representative’s vote was public knowledge but nothing could be further from the truth. Before the 1970 Act and throughout the history of the British Parliament, how individual members voted was not recorded and basically a secret ballot process. It was designed that way with a very specific purpose from the very beginnings of the Constitutional Monarchy in Britain and was adopted very purposely by the Founding Fathers. Why this was designed this way is a critical issue to understand because this is the feature that the 1970 Act reversed.
So, we must seek the answer as to:
“Why was transparency specifically prohibited by Parliamentary Procedure and the same feature adopted by the Founding Fathers in the development of the Rules of Congress?”
The answer to this question is also obvious when you consider the circumstances of the time. In this case, the time connects with the Magna Carta in 1215 that was the turning point that ended the concept of Absolute Monarchy in Britain.
The development of a Parliamentary system, in the wake of the “Magna Carta Libertatum (ie: the Great Charter of Liberties)”, was a process that recognized the incredible, although now limited, power of the King. When representatives voted on laws and regulations they understood that they were putting themselves in significant jeopardy if they enacted measures that displeased the monarchy. Thus, they developed a Parliamentary Procedure whereby the individual vote by specific members of parliament would be secret. It was a Yeas & Nays procedure but it was carried out in a manner where it was impossible for anyone to know how a specific MP voted.
The US Constitution and the Rules of Congress adopted this same feature. They were not fearful any longer of the King but they did understand that there were very powerful individuals and groups, who may exert significant influence on representatives to be sure laws and legislation leaned in their favor. Thus, since the establishment of the US Republic, the day-to-day business of Congress was carried out in a manner that for all intents & purposes was a secret ballot voting system.
The 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act completely reversed this aspect of the Rules of Congress and required that each vote by a member be recorded and made available to the public. This action set the stage for the reappearance of powerful influence, coercion and corruption in the governance of the United States. The exponential growth of lobbying groups, huge special interest groups and corporate departments dedicated to government affairs followed this legislation and continues to expand today. A form of legalized bribery has evolved in the form of Campaign Contributions that pour hundreds of millions of dollars to influence the vote of each Representative and Senator. The Sunshine laws allowed these powerful entities to verify that they “got what they paid for” and thereby reward and punish politicians accordingly. The balance of power shifted toward those with money, influence and power.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world followed this ill-advised course and most of the free world has passed transparency laws with the same problem and inevitable outcome.
The concept of Sunshine Laws has set back the ideal of government by the people and returned us to the tyranny of government by the elite. The absolute power of the King has been replaced by the absolute power of special interest groups, the political elites of the parties and the rich & powerful people who influence and coerce our representatives.
The Association to Improve Government, in its Mission Statement, expresses the objective to require secret ballot voting by all political bodies at all levels of government.
Today, open balloting at the governmental level continues to allow powerful people and special interest groups to control government. This concentrates power in the hands of a few as opposed to allowing the principles of democracy to flourish. The Association to Improve Government would like to change this by establishing a movement that will require secret balloting for all political bodies at all levels of government.
You can be part of the solution. Visit the Improve Government website, review the concept and join the Association to Improve Government.
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