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This is the first in an occasional series of posts about personal reflections on politics and government.

A line in recent spare-time reading got me thinking.

Congress is intended to be slow -- to promote deliberation and the weeding out of ideas that may be popular for a moment, but imprudent, Donald Rumsfeld wrote in his 2011 memoir Known and Unknown, published by Sentinel.

Think of congressional democracy in terms of buying dinner out for my children and grandchildren.

The process might start with the 12 grandchildren each suggesting a different restaurant. (Yes -- this is the House of Representatives, but dont read too much into the metaphor.) The grandchildren start negotiating with each other until at least seven of them agree on one restaurant.

The restaurant selection then moves to the Senate -- my three children and their spouses -- two members from each household.

If a majority of the adults agree with a majority of the children, then the decision passes to me to either approve or veto.

Democracy is a great way to make laws. But its not practical at dinner time.

Follow staff writer Maury Thompson at All Politics is Local blog, at PS_Politics on Twitter and at Maury Thompson Post-Star on Facebook.

Read more:
Maury's musing -- Democracy at dinner time - Glens Falls Post-Star (blog)