A LITTLE BIPARTISANSHIP GOES A LONG WAY

KENNETT, Mo. -- Missourians concerned about the future of their state, and in particular about the efficacy of programs designed to improve the state of their state, should view the political events that have been occurring in Jefferson City and Washington with at least a mild degree of optimism, even pleasure.

While receiving little or no notice from John Q. Public, these changes may well provide the foundation needed to enter the new century with considerably more enthusiasm than is generally accorded changes mandated by political fiat.

Skipping briefly over the new-environment alterations that have just taken place in Jefferson City, the principal media focus has been on the nation's capital, where a new president has just been sworn into office, installing more than a dozen new faces in his cabinet, an event that will in weeks and months to come herald an even greater transformation than has traditionally been the case.

New guard, new eyes

There is comfort in changing the guard within departments that affect the daily lives of every citizen in the United States, even as it temporizes the good as well as the bad within the national agenda.

Programs and policies that cannot withstand this new inspection aren't worth keeping in the first place, and there is always the possibility the new supervision will spot problems that have become permanent because of indifference, myopia or political astigmatism.

Then too we have a new chief executive, a Republican no less, who no longer subscribes to the war cry of the 1980s that the best outcome of proposed programs to improve the quality of American schools was the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education. President Bush has made education the first item on his agenda, and polls show that his emphasis has the solid backing of more than a majority of Americans.

Hallelujah, folks. There is hope, after all.

Closer to home, in the City of Jefferson, Missourians have a legislative makeup that serves the best interests of those who believe the public's business to be far more significant and important that the interests of our two major political parties.

We probably reached the height of folly in the state capital one year ago when Democrats holding leadership posts in the House of Representatives decided they could ignore the wishes of the minority -- and then began systematically making duly elected Republican representatives powerless even to bring an issue to the floor for discussion.

This was certainly not the recipe for democracy in a city named to honor one of the nation's greatest presidents.

A reversal of party domination in the Missouri Senate changes both the mood and actions of the General Assembly, assuring worried, angry Missourians that far more attention and consideration will henceforth go into differing views and philosophies than has been the case.

Republican control of the state Senate should see a reawakening of dialogue, not to mention solutions for numerous dilemmas that have faced the state and its citizens for a seemingly unending series of annual sessions.

One of the advantages of creating and maintaining effective engines of government is placing the task of providing leadership on those who have endured, not always patiently, the role of second-guessing public policies formulated by the majority.

Nothing illustrates this better than a statement the other day from the editor of the conservative opinion magazine, The National Review, who was noting a need for "more responsible coverage" within the pages of his publication now that a Republican was occupying the Oval office.

Editor Rich Lowry's admission that "it's more fun to be poking fun at the halls of power than defending them" obviously spells trouble for a large legion of editorialists, columnists and commentators whose major obsession over a Democratic president has created widespread deforestation to sustain the newsprint needs of hundreds of would-be wise men and women whose single topic was the real and imagined errancy of William Jefferson Clinton.

Face the real world

It's time for these folks to emerge from their vitriolic cocoons and address the real world of average Americans and Missourians.

The citizens of this state are much better served if there are bipartisan approaches taken to resolve the major items on the Show Me agenda and there's no shortage of these. Whatever action is taken on Bush's improved-education recommendations, common sense tells us that each state harbors its own problems that materially affect the quality of classroom instruction. So Missouri's task will be to supplement whatever programs come out of Washington to assure that sufficient capital is available to make programs both practical and possible.

The state must begin to develop supplementary sources of revenue to mitigate the intensely heavy, often pejorative, burden placed on property owners to maintain and improve local schools.

Countless other items

There are countless other items that lend themselves to the new environments in Washington and Jefferson City.

The state capital must begin to face and resolve:

* Missouri's dangerous highway and transportation inadequacies.

* We must begin to reduce, if we cannot resolve, the state's growing vulnerability to both drug addiction and manufacture.

* A program to meet the health and medical needs of the uninsured has been relegated to dark corners far too long.

* Governmental reorganization, from townships to home rule, has frequently been stymied by fear of officials they would be targeted by selfish interests.

And there are at least another dozen needs and reforms stored away for a "more appropriate" moment.

The reality is that the time for resolving these long neglected problems is at hand. We need leadership, not partisanship that is solely dedicated to the perpetuation of political power.

~Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.