Kevin Kosar and John Maxwell Hamilton at AEI:
It is one thing to inveigh against the other side of the aisle, and quite another for individuals on the fringes to argue excluding the great mass of Americans from the political process. One way to organize such an approach is for legislators to partner with nonpartisan research outfits like Professor Kull’s or Ohio State University’s Connecting to Congress initiative. They can convene cross-sections of Americans to deliberate with members about public problems. These meetings would not be anarchic public townhalls that, as often happens, feature cranks shouting nonsense. Nor would they be like the typical congressional hearings, which are adversarial proceedings that encourage acrimony and showboating. These panels would have legislators and citizens having a structured conversation to better understand a public problem and to come up with solutions.
The two of us, who often write together, do not always agree on policy. We occupy opposite sides of the aisle. What unites us, apart from a love of fishing, is a belief in listening to the other side and privileging democratic processes leading to solutions. We think most Americans want that same sort of partnership with their government. They do not want to sit in the bleachers watching endless quarrels or relish turning off their televisions to avoid endless reports of political dysfunction. They want to be heard.