While I fundamentally agree with you, applying that logic to the way our government legislates would result in absolutely nothing getting done. The reason is that the partisans on one side or the other would make sure that an amendment or two were added to every bill being considered that would authorize something totally unjustifiable. Apply the rule, that would mean that no one could vote to pass any legislation at all because of the addition of amendments authorizing unjustifiable or even objectionable things.

Furthermore, really understanding what's in each piece of legislation is a lot easier said than done. I can recall a workshop that my Congressman, Republican John Porter of Illinois' 10th District, ran several years ago. The task of his constituents who participated was to reach a conclusion on whether to pass or reject a federal budget proposal. He explained that he tried to set up the workshop to closely represent the kind of problem a member of Congress has in considering spending bills. He explained that the members of Congress are NOT given the detailed budgets prepared by every single unit of the federal bureaucracy. At the very best, they get top-level summaries of proposed expenditures, with virtually no detail regarding what the proposed spending is actually for.

The hundred or so participants were very frustrated by the fact that we were being asked to approve or reject a federal budget with so little supporting information and so little time to analyze and consider the budget proposals. We all knew that a budget had to be approved or the govenment would simply shut down with no funding. But we were frustrated by knowing so little about what we were voting for.

Our Congressman's response was, "welcome to the world of the House of Representatives!" He explained that the complaints we cited for the task we were presented were exactly the same kinds of complaints that every freshman Congressman makes when first confronted with the budget approval part of his/her job. There's not enough time and certainly not enough information with which to make a really informed decision.

I provide this anecdote only to further demonstrate how difficult it is to actually accomplish what sounds so logical and right. "Don't vote for anything that can't be justified." Who could possibly argue with that?

But then, just try to actually do it.