Don Hanlin

Freedom must be reciprocal. Whatever freedom I have, you must have. It's a Quaker concept that makes a lot of sense. See David Hacket Fischer's book, Albion's Seed, for more on reciprocal freedom and the other three common perceptions of liberty and freedom from early American history.

The U.S. Senate is the most dysfunctional part of the federal government. Local government (at least, in Indiana) is the most dysfunctional part of state government. Of course, the political party system has collapsed.

Restore the Founders' concept of majority rule in the Senate. The filibuster violates the Constitution's provisions that require a majority of elected senators to pass laws and approve appointments by majority vote. We could use the state legislatures to do an end-run around Congress and amend the Constitution to require the Senate to vote on all presidential nominees for executive and judicial offices within 90 days of their nomination. We could also give the vice-president the power to call for a vote on any legislation that has been filibustered for 90 days. By leaving the ratification process open-ended, Democratic state legislatures could pass this amendment now when the filibuster hurts a Democratic president; Republican state legislatures could pass it when the Senate is blocking the actions of a Republican president.

As for local government, it's time to get rid of our Jacksonian system of counties and townships and consolidate levels of government and elected offices. Indiana's Indianapolis/Marion County could be an example for other cities and counties even though it has not done away with townships. Local government should have single-executives (elected executives or appointed managers) and vigorous legislative bodies. Everyone else should be appointed.

I see no hope for the return of vigorous political parties. Perhaps California has the right idea in establishing non-partisan primaries.

Don't brag about yourself, like CNN. Everytime Wolf Blizter says "CNN, the best ...," I change channels.

Give all politicans some free passes on gaffes or poorly constructed sentences. Such mistakes are not news and concentrating on them does not enlighten the public. On the other hand, Sarah Palin could use some lessons in diagramming sentences. There has to be some kind of limit to murdering the language.