I'm Feeling Combustible

When Vermont became the first state to legalize "gay marriage" by an act of the legislature it made me sad and angry but with a fair amount of resignation. After all, they had hearings all over the state for months beforehand. There were even-handed hearings in Montpelier. It may have been a fait accompli, but it was also a well deliberated matter.
The Waxman-Markey bill that just passed the House yesterday is another matter. How many of us even knew that it was up for a vote? Of those of us who knew, how many knew what the bill would do? How many of our representatives knew what was in the bill? There was an entire 300 page amendment tacked on at the last minute. None of the representatives being asked to vote on the bill had had a chance to read it.
This is an outrage! No script for an episode of Saved By the Bell made it into production with less scrutiny, and this is a bill that will radically restructure our economy. All of us are going to feel the drastic and painful effects of this legislation.
The proponents of this legislation brush aside the accusation that its passage in the House was undertaken with a haste that is immoderate and unseemly for what is supposed to be a deliberative body. They say that the matter of global warming is real and uniquely pressing (an assertion made with frequency and warmth by people who can never be bothered to prove it.)
But it smells like something died in Washington. This rushed bill is not a reflection of the tyranny of the urgent, but the shadow cast by an urgent tyranny.
It's push back time.