Two more necessary changes in government structure

1. Both at the federal and the local level, the Attorney General should be elected. The people are sovereign. The law and enabling authority of government belongs to the people. It should not be mucked up by ideologies and fealty to the Executive.

2. I wonder if we need a form of a "City Manager" type of government for the federal government. Now that I think about it, among other things, this was actually laid out in a crazy science fiction-like novel by Lawrence Sanders (maybe it was him, I can't seem to find it in his ouevre).

The City Manager form of municipal government was created by an Upjohn (probably nobody remembers that pharmaceutical company, once based in Kalamazoo, Michigan), to bring professionalism to local government. The City Manager oversaw the operations of government, the elected Mayor and Council oversaw the government, passed legislation, etc.

There was an article within the past couple weeks, maybe by Paul Krugman, mentioning in passing that what often passes for research by federal agencies now, such as the Department of Treasury with regard to tax policy, is most likely to be the buttressing of various political and policy positions by the President, rather than independent, probing analysis and recommendations.

For years I have written that at the level of local government, resources are limited and restricted and they can't be wasted--that everything we do needs to accomplish multiple objectives.

As the American Century fades, and the demands on government (not to mention people with their hands out, people of all economic levels by the way, see for example this piece "A Con Game In Pinstripes " by Steven Pearlstein in today's Post) government monies can't be wasted, and programs can't be ineffectual, and change dramatically and drastically every time control of the government changes.