We’d be remiss if March passed without noting an important birthday. C-SPAN, the cable television staple, turned 30 earlier this month. There was little in the way of public celebration to note the occasion, but such a festivity would not have been unwelcome. A fete honoring the network that continues to bring a high level of government transparency to Americans would certainly be in order.

Given the demographic shift in the nation, many Americans living today probably find it difficult to recall a time when the inner workings of Congress and the federal government were pretty much a mystery. There was extensive coverage in the print and visual media, of course, but it was circumscribed by limited access to the places where elected officials made speeches, discussed bills and cast votes. C-SPAN changed all that.

When the network signed on the air on March 19, 1979, the nation’s view of the House of Representatives changed forever. Americans no longer had to wait to read a newspaper or for a TV news broadcast to see or hear what was taking place on the House floor. C-SPAN was there and beamed a live signal into America’s homes and offices.

C-SPAN’s minimalist approach is unique. It is unbiased and it is complete. It unblinkingly provides video and audio coverage of what is said and done in Congress without additional comment. Refreshingly, those who watch are invited, indeed, encouraged, to form their own opinions.

Doomsayers three decades ago predicted a short life span for C-SPAN. Who, they asked, would tune in to watch a parade of men and women standing before a fixed camera spouting off on sometimes esoteric topics? Millions of Americans, that’s who.

Thirty years later, about 39 million Americans tune in to C-SPAN regularly (at least once or twice a week by industry definition) and the service is available to almost 100 million households served by either cable or satellite. That, by any measure, is a success story.

C-SPAN has achieved far more than a successful business model since Al Gore Jr., then in the House, became the first to speak during live network coverage. C-SPAN has expanded, not only to a second network covering the Senate, but to a third that provides a wide variety of exemplary public affairs programming. There’s also a popular Web site with a public archive that provides a historically valuable, in-depth archive on contemporary U.S. government.

C-SPAN created a new dynamic between Americans and those who govern them by providing a transparency that once was inconceivable. In doing so, it has encouraged similar openness at other levels of government. Many state and local governments now routinely broadcast meetings. For that, we have C-SPAN to thank.

The network, which does not receive a cent of federal money, continues to seek more openness in government. It is in the vanguard of those pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to allow coverage of its sessions. That’s a suitable goal for a network, which at a robust 30, is entering the prime of life.