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Friday, November 18, 2011

No One Knows What Goes On Behind Closed Doors

Your editorial "Exceptional Court Coverage" speaks to the necessity to hear in real time the Supreme court discussion on the health care challenge, as its determination will "affect every American". It is critical, so your words would suggest, that the process, not only the result, be known to the American public.

Yet it strikes me as odd that  we seemingly accept without comment that the super-committee has gone about reaching its answers outside of our watchful eye. How are we a government of the people when a decision of such potentially monumental economic importance is made in  silence?

I understand that, in the highly unlikely event an agreement is reached, it will be subject to congressional scrutiny and review, and we will be permitted in on that subsequent conversation.  But why only then? I don't agree with the implicit premise that those charged with governing  can only do so effectively when we are not interfering with our presence. Our ability to "participate" in the critical arguments that impact our lives, whether before the Supreme Court, or behind the closed doors of the super-committee are at the essence of what "we the people" should mean.

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