Welcome to The Senate Site

By John Valentine and Curt Bramble
Senate President and Majority Leader

Last night we had the high honor of visiting Michael Young's home and spending a few hours with a distinguished group of our colleagues and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (Bramble: It was so high-brow I wondered what I was doing there.)

We were impressed. Justice Thomas is a straight talker. He was engaging, entertaining and very insightful on issues facing the nation.

One thing that stood out was his comment on the current lack of common ground between the two political extremes. Somehow, he said, we need find a common area in the middle to communicate.

He talked about everyone’s individual potential. Schools, especially colleges, should be an incubator for ideas – all ideas. And all ideas should be given a fair hearing. We shouldn’t cut people off just because we don’t love the ideas being expressed.

Yeah, it hit home.

He talked about how schools should be a training ground of practicality, preparing young people to engage society and be successful. He recounted the days when he was just out of school and carrying some heavy financial burdens. At one point a banker looked him in the eye, and said, “Can I trust you?”

Of course he could. He did. And it turned out to be a pivotal moment in the Justice’s future. Justice Thomas encouraged us all to be aware of opportunities where WE - like that banker - might be the one person with power to set an individual on a path of success.

Justice Thomas was human. He laughed. He was open, happy and seemed to hold a very optimistic view of life. We felt it was a privilege to share an evening with him – and hope he won’t mind us giving Senate Site readers just a glimpse into the experience.

2 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

And all ideas should be given a fair hearing. We shouldn’t cut people off just because we don’t love the ideas being expressed.

Yeah, it hit home.

I'll believe that when this "hit" changes the way the Utah Legislature receives public testimony at its committee hearings.

4/05/2007 6:23 AM  

 The Senate Site said...

We'll keep that in mind. Sorry if you've had a bad experience over here.

4/05/2007 10:14 AM  

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