Deleting Off Topic Post spurred On Topic Thought

I on a whim, put up an off topic post on Jean Quan, our very competent city councilwoman. That provoked a responding comment from someone who clearly didn't share my opinion, laced with conflict laden words. I have no interest in pissing contests, so I rejected the comment, and then on further thought deleted the entire post. My thought though, is that this is one more example of those things that make no sense at all. The people I meet while out hiking are a significant reason that I enjoy hiking. There is a shared purpose that crosses age and gender boundaries. We enthusiastically share route and gear tips, and tales of the trail. Back home, when I encounter the same people on the online forums, some calming influence is missing. I see rants about guns, about bear canisters, about authority, etc. You know what I mean. There is a significant minority of people that are unwilling to put their minds to problem solving, to constructive agreement. That minority makes so much noise it is hard for others to be heard. In this instance, we have a politician who is a problem solver, a hard worker, and capable of innovative thinking - the kind we need a lot more of. In this city, as well as state and federal levels of government, we have severe financial problems. We need to recognize and keep the legislators who have a will to see and deal with the problems. Even when we disagree with them, we need to present factual information they need to improve their judgement. It makes no sense at all to talk without listening, to close your mind to the facts. This has been a little rant of my own, but I at least have a solution. Legislators must walk the length of California. Every five to seven days, they can have a zero day in a trail town, and during that day they can discuss or enact legislation. It is ok if they discuss it on the trail. After they finish the trail, they get another six weeks to continue legislation. All that should take about three or four months. The remainder of the year they can refine decisions made on the trail. The whole thing repeats every year. It is important that they don't start any new legislation after the trail effect wears off. An aside, we've been getting some unattributed taking of blog content so inserting © 2009 backpack45.com