Americans recoil at the thought of authoritarian governance, but do we also think about the degree of authority a President needs to exercise for the sake of worthwhile accomplishment? There’s a big difference between the persuasive authority needed to promote legislative consensus and the dictatorial style exemplified by the extreme of executive orders to bypass Congressional oversight. House and Senate members too frequently take pride in maintaining strict party-line unity regardless of the issue. Many disregard the fact that their constituencies include nearly equivalent elements of the opposite persuasion who also deserve carefully considered representation. Whatever the official decision, both sides should receive a reasoned explanation of the factors tilting the declared result one way or the other. Politics should not automatically be treated as a team sport. No one has all the right answers all the time. For the sake of better public understanding of contentious issues, the Washington or state-level floor debate needs even-handed media extension from those “peoples’ houses” to individual home living rooms. Phil Osifer