The biggest waste

of government time has to be Congressional Committee hearings. In 1959, I was a witness in a hearing before an FCC Examiner in Washington. I was on the stand for two days. (The Washington definition of a day is four hours... 10:00 am until noon and 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm.) I was grilled by lawyers, not Congressmen, and it was a tough experience.

Congressional Committee hearings do not work that way. Each committee member gets five minutes to question the witness. If they take 30 seconds for the question, the witness will ramble for 4 1/2 minutes and their turn is over. So, they take four minutes to cover all the things they would like to ask; the witness takes 30 seconds to dance around and not answer any questions, and that member's time is up.

Too bad Congress can't figure out what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, protecting the right to legal counsel. If you want answers, you better get someone who knows how to ask questions. Instead of giving each member five minutes, let them pool their time, hire an expert and give him an hour.

Yes, I know, that would keep the members from getting time before the TV cameras.