One of the less well-understood practices that contributed to the long-term discrediting of the Bush administration was its habit of over-reaching the traditional limits of presidential power and deciding many issues by executive fiat that it couldn’t persuade the Congress to adopt in public debate.  Everyone is well aware of the CIA abuses and torture of prisoners, and the attempts to make domestic surveillance routine.  But in Cabinet department after department, a quieter war on Americans’ personal safety went on that the press mostly failed to notice and of which the public was largely unaware.

Regulations in the EPA are now routinely ‘enforced’ by former polluters.  Trucking rules are watched over by….truckers.  The FDA is peopled with pharmaceutical company representatives.  All without much public debate, all behind the scenes, all of it ultimately affecting your safety.

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we have a change in administration and a chance therefore to change the public discourse.  Every administration gets (an increasingly brief) honeymoon during which everyone talks about bi-partisanship and makes nice for a while.  More importantly, there’s a brief chance to introduce new ideas that perhaps cross party lines, or re-draw them so that we can get new agreements and actually get something done.

There is a particular hunger for positive action because of the dire economic straits we are in right now. 

So let’s seize the moment and begin a new public discourse.  One that champions transparency, honesty, and pragmatism.  Let’s look for ideas that work, rather than merely the ideas that our ideological blinders let us see. 

Most importantly, let’s bring the day-to-day work of the government back out into the open where it belongs.  If we’re going to change the rules for truckers, let’s talk about it.  It may sound mundane, but a disproportionate number of the 42,000 deaths each year on highways are caused by large trucks.  The fatal crash rate for large trucks is 2.4 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled – 50 % more than for all vehicles – according to a safety advocacy organization.  Do we need more or less of a regulatory presence?  Let’s not decide this behind closed doors.  

We’re the taxpayers.  We’re funding this government.  Let’s talk publicly about the issues that actually affect our daily lives, not just the ones that the press gets worked up about and the extreme wings of either party fulminate about.  Let’s have a public discourse that debates real issues honestly and openly.  Our lives depend on it.