j. Thomas

It means the citizen has extraordinary freedoms coupled with extraordinary responsibilities. Unfortunately, lots of folks forget the "responsibility" part.

No office should be held more than two terms. Those who are in office for 20-30 years eventually forget they are paid by the public to serve the public.
Entrenched, they make deals which have little public benefit, but lots of personal rewards.

Term limits at all levels of government.
I believe term limits in the NYC Council has brought us lots of new talent and fresh ideas.

I may be naive, but occasionally the press should ignore the shenanigans of fringe groups. It can be an insult to the average citizen (who is rarely recognized) and gives the wrong impression to the citizenry. In other words, "bizarro" i.e. Palin, O'Connell, Snyder . . . are seeded by others but fertilized and grown by the press . . . a lot like the hormone saturated chickens we see in our markets.