Michael Lissack one subject. Make our representatives vote on items one at a time, and only after an appropriate reading period. To prevent ossification of worthy programs into bureaucratic fossils, Congress should mandate that all new programs have a sunset date not more than ten years after they are established. Renewal of programs should not be allowed except upon at least a two-thirds vote. Starting over is a wonderful therapeutic exercise and it can work for governmental programs as well as for individuals. In 1993 the governor of Michigan made a bold proposal - abolish the present method of funding education and start over again from scratch. The very idea brought new meaning to a discarded concept from the sixties and seventies -zero based budgeting. To really begin over again, not just as a paper exercise but in reality caused a true examination of what was needed and what was a luxury. The legislature had to make real choices. There was no status quo. Our public officials’ fear of trying the unknown the unproven is as bad a curse as the ossification of our worst programs. The risk that a small mis- take will be pilloried in the press, that a minor error can mean the end of a career - risks that are not present in the private sector are perhaps the most costly of our governmental mistakes. Once established a program seems to live forever and if it is a mistake, that concept cannot be admitted. Thus no action is better than taking the risk of an unproven action. Our most general problem is the lack of any office or official to represent the interests of the majority or of our children. How is it that we are to ensure that these interests are fairly represented in the decision making process? Can we appoint a small officialdom with this as their charge? In the legis- lative branch can we impose on the Senate and its six-year terms by asking the one-third who have just been elected to stand as a committee charged with the long-term interest of the majority and the unborn? Within the legislature why do we tolerate undo complexity in process? If the committee system were to be reexamined and started from scratch would we not have only as many or as few committees as there are cabi- net positions and with similar functions (plus two or three internal com- mittees charged with supervising the overall business and organization of
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