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This season of political attack ads mixed with a $700 billion government bailout bill reminds us once again that the way Congress assembles legislation is a joke.

The presidential candidates hurl accusations that are technically accurate but shamefully misleading. That’s because our legislators refuse to speak plainly when they draft – or amend – a bill. An act of law should be simple, clear and to the point. They owe us that. But that’s not how they do things, and so a candidate can always point to an opponent’s shocking vote on a major bill, ignoring any details that may have influenced that vote.

And a measure that was presented as a serious, no-kidding-around, desperately needed repair to the financial system turned into a traditional “Christmas tree” bill, decorated with all sorts of trinkets.

The state of Iowa tries to conduct business at a higher standard. The Iowa Constitution says in Article III, Section 29: “Every act shall embrace but one subject, and matters properly connected therewith; which subject shall be expressed in the title.”

The U.S. House of Representatives has had a rule on “germaneness” since 1789. According to the House Committee on Rules, “(t)he rule is based on the notion that the House should only consider one subject matter at a time. … The rule of germaneness applies to an amendment and its relationship to a bill or a pending amendment. It does not apply to the relationship between two provisions of the bill itself.”

But in the Senate, sticking to the subject is not such a big deal. According to the Congressional Research Service, “germaneness of amendments is not required in the Senate, except in four specific instances.”

Those instances aside, the Senate is a great place to turn a personal wish list into law.

Wouldn’t it be a fine step toward accountable government if we adopted a rule like Iowa’s in the U.S. Senate?