Not a Flash Mob

Regular readers of this humble journal may have been expecting a few comments about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," whose insurance exchanges are going live today.

For sheer waste and inefficiency, however, it's hard to beat the jury selection process. Today over 100 people had to listen with rapt attention to people like you and me drone on about their life experiences. Would it be too much to ask to schedule group 15-minute interviews with prospective jurors? The sessions could be videotaped for later analysis by prosecution and defense. That way each of us would only sacrifice half a day instead of a week.

Why do we sheepishly put up with this? Because we have to. The judge issues bench warrants for no-shows, and bail amounts to tens of thousands of dollars.

Except for military service where the opposite occurred, more and more "voluntary" acts of civic responsibility have become mandatory. In California we keep electing people who put these laws into place, so I guess we must like it. © 2013 Stephen Yuen