Dennis Sparks | Contributor

Sometimes it's easier to solve two problems together than it is to remedy them separately. For instance, in a recent New Yorker David Sedaris used his characteristic light touch to explore the travails of air travel. In that same issue, George Packer wrote about the “modern decline” of what has become a seriously dysfunctional U.S. Senate. Among his criticisms were arcane rules, little time for senators to think deeply about issues, virtually nonexistent substantive conversations among senators about critically important issues, three-day Washington work weeks, and a never-ending quest to raise campaign funds, among other problems.

Rather than falling into a pit of despair about “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” I saw instead a solution to both problems: The next time senators head out of town en masse—which appears to be almost weekly—cancel all their reservations just as they arrive at the airport. To rebook, they must stand in long, slow-moving lines with the rest of us to listen to the unfiltered and unscripted views of their fellow travelers.

Unbeknownst to the senators, they will all be sent to the same plane, where they will be its only passengers on an indeterminate flight to nowhere. Rather than the travel-induced brain death Sedaris describes, mind-expanding conversations will be encouraged among senators who seldom if ever talk with one another by randomly assigning them new seatmates every hour or two.

Senators will be served airline food and receive no alcohol until 60 or more of them can agree on legislation addressing climate change, immigration, and other pressing issues. An additional benefit may be a law or two that improves the quality of air travel.

A modest proposal, I know. But the thought of 100 senators on a plane fully engaged in conversations about substantive issues provides me with a glimmer of hope that our near-paralytic Congress seldom offers, a kind of time travel that may take us to a better world. "Dennis Sparks’ Things Observed” essays and photos encourage readers to see familiar things in new ways. He can be contacted at dennis.sparks@comcast.net.