A Change For Congress?

Many people complain about Congress (great joke: if the opposite of pro is con than isn't the opposite of progress, congress?).  All these rich people vying for power, votes, and money and not really caring about Americans..

But for their credit, they do try:  they (try to) dress well (love those power suits Ms. Pelosi), they (try to)work together, they (generally) stay away from sex scandels, they do their research, they (try to) get things done, among many other positive attributes..

There is just one thing wrong and if you have ever watched C-SPAN (and you probably haven't) you know the problem.  Congress is all about show: there is a reason the MoC's sit high up on benches while the witnesses are on level with the audience. So one would assume they cared what the committee rooms looked like..How much money was spent on all that oak paneling? On those cozy chairs the Chair sits in for a few hours once a week? So this just leads to one problem: What is up with those microphones?

Probably true: all of the microphones are on loan from Bob Barker.

Definitely true: at one point or another every MoC has started talking without turning it on.

Most likely true: there has not been a witness that has sat before a committee or subcommittee who has NOT been asked to turn on their mic at one time during their testimony.

Now, I have never been elected to Congress (and probably won't ever be, thanks in part to this blog), so I don't know what they teach the new members there.  But I am proposing that they maybe tell them to turn them on at some point, it will make it easier for those of us who like (get paid) to watch the hearings.  Or really it might be easier (and save some electricity) if we scrapped the whole deal and threw in some tin can phones..