A world that makes sense: Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

I have this mental list that I keep.

It consists of a few things that I’d really like to see.

I don’t think about it often, but sometimes I’ll wander through it to either add an item or two or delete others that no longer matter.

I got to thinking about that list. Here are some

things I’d like to see:

(1) With our state facing a $5 billion budget shortfall, it’d be nice to see our lawmakers forget party affiliations, say “to heck with whether or not I get re-elected, I’m going to do what’s best for the state” (remember, I’m daydreaming here), and then face the state’s budget problems like the rest of us face ours.

Separate the “must haves” and “must do’s” from the paybacks, “nice-to-haves,” and “can be done ‘laters’.” Find waste (yep, it’s still out there) and get rid of it. Forget kicking the problem down the road, realize that money’s tight, will be for some time and, then, get it done.

On the national level, though, I’ve about given up on the lot our representatives ever understanding the concept of “a budget” or, perish the thought, “paying down debt.” Still, I keep wondering what would happen if congressional pay were tied to the national debt — like reducing it by 1 percent for every billion dollars of deficit. Wonder how long it’d be before they started getting spending under control?

(2) Again, regarding our members of Congress. Instead of trying to do away with lobbyists, special interests and big donors, what if all meetings with such groups were conducted in large rooms with glass dividers separating the parties? The parties would be allowed to communicate via phones like those used in prisons and all conversations would be taped for replay in home districts.

(3) Charlie Sheen just shutting up and going far, far away.

(4) That, as regards the Libyan mess, we’d continue with our currently stated plan of not taking the lead. As noted by the president and others in both parties, there are NATO countries that are much closer to the action and who can make things go “boom” just as well as we can. Too, our troops are already stretched thinner than a Victoria’s Secret nightgown and we don’t need to get them into yet another shooting war with no real idea of what “victory” would look like or when we could expect to pull them out.

This time, let’s have someone else stare Gadhafi in the eye and tell him “we’re about to beat you like a rented mule if you don’t stop this.”

On a related note, I’d love to be able to see where we might be right now if we’d have gotten truly serious about energy independence when the Arab oil embargo happened more than 30 years ago.

(4) A national newscaster who’d just give us the news without all of the heavy breathing and “hair-on-fire” verbiage that we now get. I’m thinking of someone along the lines of former CBS reporter (and I’m really dating myself here) Hughes Rudd.

Such a person would simply report the “who, what, when, where, and why” of any story — as Hughes used to do in a very gravelly voice — and then look up as if to say: “There. That’s the story. More facts as we get them. What you think about it all is up to you.” And, then, move on.

(5) A glimpse of Bigfoot while on my annual hunting trip in the Okanogan.

(6) That the NFL and the players’ union would recognize that they’re both making more money than most fans could even dream of and, still, they’re messing around with the possibility of screwing up the season. Before they do that, it’d be nice to see them sit back and think about just how many of us out here would see such a step as a slap in the face, and mentally say, “Go ahead. Make my day.”

There, that’s about it and, if you’re wondering, my money’s on the Bigfoot sighting being the most likely to ever happen.

I could be wrong … but I doubt it.

Larry Simoneaux lives in Edmonds. Send comments to larrysim@comcast.net.