From time to time we hear about the staggering numbers of adults in America who can’t read or are functionally illiterate.

We’re told that illiteracy leads to poverty.

Others say that poverty causes illiteracy.

It may not come as a surprise that the rate of functional illiteracy in Washington D.C. is substantially higher than that of the rest of the country.

Washington, D.C. politicians don’t seem to think that functional literacy is a job requirement.

Obama warned politicians that our economic crisis was so dire that they didn’t have time to read the stimulus bill before voting on it.  After which he dawdled around a few days before signing it. It has become accepted fact now that voluminous federal legislation is being passed without being read by the very people who had been elected with the expectation that they would, in fact, know what they were voting on.

And nobody seems to be very concerned about it, much less appalled.

Ed Morrissey is one recent exception, pointing out that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) laughed at the idea that lawmakers might be asked to pledge that they would read the ObamaCare bill before voting on it.
What kind of lawmaker would actually laugh at the suggestion that he read proposed legislation before voting on it?

This is beyond irresponsible, and conveys an absolute contempt for the people who will be presumed to know the content of these laws after they are enacted.

Don’t these lawmakers consider the fact that they and their families might be affected, and even if they have no concern for the welfare of their constituents, don’t they even want to know whether the bill being considered will impact their own lives?

Perhaps being elevated to the heady status of a senator or US representative gives one the feeling that he is above it all.  With enough clout, who cares what the law says?

UPDATE:

Obama White House can’t spell.  Who says you need to know how to spell?

Many years ago when my daughter was in grammar school, her teacher enlightened me as to the then current philosophy on spelling:  it wasn’t thought to be all that important, because when you correct students’ spelling, it might dampen their creativity.  Or something.

In the Paleolithic era when I went to school we were told that discipline was something we should aspire to and in the writing sphere, we learned about iambic pentameter and forms such as sonnets and haiku were thought to be more artistic than,  say,  “hey, lok over ther.  See thos prety red flowrs.”