by Paul Jacob

Sign on the dotted line. But don't bother reading it. In fact, I insist you don't read it.

If I shoved a contract at you, urging you to just sign and not bother reading the document, would you say that I was being completely fair and aboveboard?

No? Yet this kind of thing is routine when it comes to the legislation passed by our august representatives in Congress. Congressman rarely read the bills they vote on. In fact, sometimes the bills aren't even in final written form when they vote.

The fuss over Jack Abramoff's slightly-over-par lobbyist activities has led to a spate of suggestions for lobbying reform. But lobbyists are not the main problem. After all, they don't get to vote on the legislation.

The main problem is lawmakers passing bills they haven't read, and pretending they don't know about the pork that gets slipped in when they pretend they're not looking.

Congressional lawmakers, in 2005 you passed 14,000 earmarks, or special favors. You want to deal with this problem? Fine. Pass the Read the Bills Act. The Act would require every word of a bill to be read out loud to assembled lawmakers. There would also be a delay before final passage so that the proposed law could be posted on the Internet. Letting the public see what's about to be foisted on them before it's too late. That would cut down on the shenanigans.

Congress should know what it passes -- or passes up -- in advance, that's all. So should we.

Common Sense is published by Americans for Limited Government. Their website can be visited at www.limitedgov.org.