Let's Take The Big Top on the Road!

D.C. Inside the Beltway. Our nation's Capitol. We've all heard how insulated the culture is in Washington. How out of touch our own government is with the citizenry it claims to represent. How polarized our country is and how pitiful the liberal media, not to mention those pesky liberals, have become. How entrenched the whole system is, not to mention the power wielded by the boyz and girlz on K Street. What to do, what to do? By George Washington, I've got it!

Let's take our government on the road. Every four years. All three branches. Sound impossible? Too expensive? Hold on there, pardner, lemme explain. Here's how The Big Road Show could work:

While leaving all of the federal agencies safely ensconced in Washington, not to mention the lobbyists on K Street, why not create a rotating, four year temporary home for the president's administration, for both houses of Congress, and for the Supremes, along with any available federal judges who sit in each temporary home's district? Communication with their staff and home state offices has never been more flexible. Security has never been more sophisticated. And don't you think it's high time the Supreme Court justices held a few town hall meetings just to get a feel for how the living document they interpret is affecting all of the little people? Think of all the chambers of commerce salivating at the very thought of all the new "tourist" revenue their communities could count on. Think how much money could be made by turning the Big Top (excuse me, I meant The Capitol dome), the White House, and other symbols of our freedom into a kind of theme park, charging admission to visitors just like we do now at National Parks. Why, we could pay for the traveling road show without introducing a single Bill in Congress!

As for K Street, I'm afraid they'd have to stay home in D. C., and their contact with lawmakers would have to be restricted and made public to boot. And I'm so sorry, but we'd have to forbid any elected federal official and all of their family members from ever "serving" as paid lobbyists. It's just a little bit too cozy for my liking when I hear about mild-mannered men like Tom Daschle serving in the Senate while his family members are being paid handsomely by the folks on Special K St. Tom DeLay, "The Hummer," might not blink an eye, but Tom Daschle? Puhleeze!

So give it some thought. The actual interaction between our government and the citizenry it claims to represent. Mingling with the peasantry in a different region every four years. And all of it paid for by tourist dollars and theme park admission fees. It's hard to live on talking points and sound bites when you have living, breathing human beings in front of you whose lives are touched daily by the decisions you make. And guess what? Healthy debate (real debate), and venting (doctors sometimes call it externalizing) are good for a strong, vibrant democracy, especially when the InfoWhores in the media have decided to spit back the bullshit they've been spoonfed by our fearless leaders. Gosh, even dissent is claimed as a tool of freedom! And so, my fellow Americans, I ask you to consider making our government a "moveable feast" we can all taste and digest. It just might remind us all that the folks who live and work inside the Beltway serve under "the consent of the governed."