Judge Roberts and the rest of us Americans

I was sitting in the waiting room this afternoon at my auto repair place waiting for the Service Department to finish changing the oil. I was reading a newspaper- I'm behind on those- and trying to ignore the jabbering soap opera on the television mounted on the wall. I suddenly thought that it was sad that the television wasn't tuned in to the Senate Hearings on the nomination of Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court. I'd been listening on the car radio when I had the chance over the past three days. I have found the discussions fascinating entirely apart from the merits of his nomination. After all, we have an opportunity this week to hear an unedited presentation by dozens of our nation's leaders on the subject of The Constitution and the law and the processes of lawmaking. It's a free moment to get behind the scenes and hear real ideas and theories and principles that drive hundreds of decisions that affect our lives. Even the little time I've had to listen, I have gotten a better idea of who senators Sessions and Spector and Feinstein and others are. Geez! Somehow I doubt that very many of us are listening though. And that makes me both cranky and sad. How can we bitch about what happens when we give it so little of our attention- even when the opportunity is made easy.