My ideal job...

1. I used to say would be teaching at Columbia and writing a couple columns/week for the New York Times. A similar gig would be pretty good in DC, for the Post.

2. Or, there is Greg Graffin. He is an adjunct right now, teaching introductory biology at UCLA and he is lead singer for Bad Religion. But I can't really sing. And I definitely can't play guitar. (See "The Daily Bruin - Evolution of a punk-rock professor.")

3. You're probably aware of the "ombudsperson" movement, which became more widespread in response to the consumer movements of the 1960s. And we do need those in government, although they are more of a "consumers representative."
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Definition-explanation from the Internet:

Official who acts on behalf of the private citizen in investigating complaints against the government. The post is of Scandinavian origin; it was introduced in Sweden in 1809, Denmark in 1954, and Norway in 1962, and spread to other countries from the 1960s.

The first Commonwealth country to appoint an ombudsman was New Zealand 1962; the UK followed 1966 with a parliamentary commissioner; and Hawaii was the first US state to appoint an ombudsman, 1967. The UK Local Government Act 1974 set up a local ombudsman, or commissioner for local administration, to investigate maladministration by local councils, police, health or water authorities. In the 1980s, ombudsmen were appointed to private bodies such as banks 1986, insurance companies 1983, and building societies 1988.
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4. I am thinking, like how Apple created a position for change advocates called an "evangelist," to spread technology. But other companies have similar kinds of positions now.

We need the same kind of boundary-crosser, agency-spanner to work in local government.

5. Of course, such a job, by its very nature, has the kiss of death, because of the classic dilemma of being a boundary spanner. cf. the firing of people trying to do a good job, like Bill Crews or Merrit Drucker.

6. Anyway, that's the kind of job I want.