Nothing new under the sun.

Sadly, most of the nominees for favorite common sense ideas aren't really new and they don't all have much common sense. Many of them sound like retreads of the New Deal which gave us Social Security. The most common sense thing to do with that mess would be to end it and pay everyone in my generation a refund of what they've paid in so far. If there's anything left, retire some of the national debt and allow current workers to create 401(k) accounts with what would otherwise go toward payroll taxes.

I'd like to see the federal government downsized and its taxing power limited. I'd like to see lobbying strictly limited to submission of information materials, and no more earmarks, irrelevant amendments, and pork barrel legislating.

Do away with college degrees beyond Bachelors in journalism, education, political science, art, drama, and other areas where postgraduate "study" only serve to prolong working outside of real life, and with phoney departments like "(Your minority here) Studies." College is supposed to teach student how to learn on their own, not prepare them for graduate school, unless further studies are really necessary to master a field.

Outlaw federal and state entitlement programs.