Why Didn't I Think of That?

Why Didn’t I Think of That? will air on WAMU on dates in late September and October to be determined and posted. (Segments involving candidates in specific regions, such as Virginia or Massachusetts, will air on other stations as well.) Each segment will feature two opposing viewpoints, sometimes from candidates, sometimes from commentators. These pairs of guests rarely if ever agree on anything except the other’s right to exist (and even that agreement varies according to their divergent views of when “existence” begins).

Unlike every other show in the known universe, the two guests will not be debating opposing viewpoints but rather will be reacting to brand-spanking-new proposals that transcend ideologies. These ideas aren’t partisan, meaning they aren’t liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. They aren’t boring bipartisan compromises either. They aren’t even non-partisan. Instead they are post-partisan, meaning simply better, setting the stage for when politicians stop posturing and decide to try actually solving problems.

How do we know they are better? We don’t know for sure. We guess, from the comments and the “likes”.

Whom do we get these ideas from? You, that’s whom. Do the math: There are maybe 310,000,000 people in this country, only about 1000 of whom have the Day Job of coming up with new ideas…and most of their ideas are ideologically driven. We refuse to believe that at least a few of the other 309,999,000 people don’t have better ideas. Think of all the fabulously stupid policy ideas that have been proposed through the years. If you’re a Democrat you think of WIN Buttons or maybe, more recently, Stimulus Checks. If you’re a Republican, maybe it’s the government paying people to buy houses, a policy which didn’t have a name, or if it did, we’ve forgotten it. (One thing we can all agree on: With the possible exception of the Dream Act, the GOP is much better at naming things. Death panels, anyone?)