This story gives me a little, tiny twinge of hope in my otherwise coal-black heart.

I find things like this all the time, in my travels. I see a lot of people. I talk to a lot of people. Travel is what gives me the very strong impression that our nation is not FUBAR ... but our government needs to have its leash yanked ... hard.

I've sat in restaurants and bars and had conversations with good ole boys (yes, one of them wearing a big hat) that wouldn't have been out of place around my dinner table. A friendly smile and a shared problem to solve will make you friends across almost any political boundary.

So yeah ... listening to people give solutions isn't the answer. Communities talking about the problems is the start.