A reinvention of American politics might begin with a thoroughgoing reform of the system of campaign finance. Our political party system is in substantial decline, and no longer serves as a bridge between citizens and government. The old spirit of bipartisan cooperation in the making of public policy has been replaced by vicious, mean-spirited partisanship. Our election system badly needs reinvention. Candidates spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to contest local elections.
Campaigns seem endless, and more heat than light is generated by the sixty second spots.
There is a lot we could contribute by using our skills and influence to improve these processes within our region. Many of our colleagues think that devolution to the states is a wonderful thing. In addition to the reformist agenda suggested above, I want to propose a modest research agenda. First of all, we now very little about the public administration programs in the region. In any case, we need to know the state of reality before we can make effective reforms for the 21st century.