So today I visited the House of Representatives of the US Congres... I got a gallery pass to sit in and observe the proceedings of the House of Representatives...

After clearing one security check after another I entered the visitors gallery expectantly hoping to see a lot animated activity... however I saw sleepy chairman, a bored out of her brain typist and overall disinterested members... the main reason for the disinterest was the long speech a congresswoman was giving... and the central point of her speech was the passage of a new bill to help small businesses...

But then things got interesting once the debate started.... the house was completely divided along party lines... there was the democrats on the left and the republicans on the right.... and the republicans attacked the bill like no business.... they expounded economic theories which sough to cut government involvement in public life.... and argued vehemently for a leaner government... one of them came up and said that Truman had fired about 100000 workers and yet had led the country to the best post war economic boom (without ofcourse mentioning that the war was the reason for the American boom).... and another republican brought out a poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger and saying "You cut"... implying that the Government should cut taxes and scale down the involvement.... and a republican argued about something that was wrong with the legislation and the democrat stood up and said "but I am surprised you are saying this since you yourself voted against removing that provision from the law last week!".... The democracts were not any less and put forth a spirited response.... and they were sure of passing the bill in the house owing to their present day majority... and the possibility of the democrats losing the house was brought home when a republican stood up and said "I hope the public will choose better soon"...

The economic crisis dominated the discussion.... it is such a big thing in America with lots of people having lost their savings and their jobs.....

All in all a very informative visit it was for me... Now I want to see the UK parliament in action if possible and then ultimately my Parliament if possible...