Props To Chief Justice John Roberts

Last week, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (the title is not, "Chief of the United States Supreme Court," by the way), the highest ranking judge in the land, showed up for jury duty.

Unsurprisingly, the trial court judge and lawyers in the case did not select him to serve from the jury panel.  But, his example is inspiring.  If he shows up to jury duty, what excuse do I have not to show when I my date (in mid-May) comes up.  Sometimes, a leader has to lead by example, and in the case of jury duty, the right thing to do is all about showing up and Justice Roberts was a fine example for us all and doing just that.

This said, however, I would not feel the least bit immoral if I found I way to bypass the roughly two hour wait at my local DMV in Colorado, where I went last week with my eldest to replace a lost driver's permit.

In the case of the DMV, the federal equivalent function of passport applications, and the bureaucratically similar appellate courts, it seems to me that a very modest expenditure of public funds to increase staffing could dramatically improve the speed and quality of service.  Yet, our public servants aren't willing to spend the money.

Why?  I have no idea.  It would seem to be an easy and cheap political coup to have record quality and speed of service in these functions which really make a difference to a lot of people and shape their perceptions of the efficiency of the government, in general.