EASY AS ABC

We don’t often quote Ronald Reagan here, but one sentiment he expressed bears repeating after watching Congress's partisan posturing last week. By all accounts the former president often said that it was fine for elected officials to have different opinions, but they should disagree agreeably.

Anyone who has ever watched a State of the Union address, knows that the congressional seating chart does not encourage agreeable disagreement. Democrats sit on one side of the aisle, and Republicans sit on the other.

It’s too bad CSPAN wasn’t around in 1838, when Representative Abram Maury and Representative William Campbell came to blows behind the Speaker's chair on the House floor. Campbell beat Maury bloody. And then there was the time a Republican congressman from California and a Democrat congressman from Virginia got into a shoving match at the rear of the House chamber. The fight spilled out into the hall, and nearby Capitol Hill police officers had to break it up. Oh wait, that one was in 1995.

Another president, Abraham Lincoln said, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Hmm. So what could we do to promote civility in the Capitol? Is there some way to change the seating arrangement, eliminate the great divide between the two parties, and encourage the bi-partisanship that President Obama seeks?

Would boy girl boy girl work, for example? Nah. Not enough girls. How about smoking and non-smoking? Nah. That would set a bad example, and besides it would make things too easy for the tobacco lobby.

Here’s something Congress can do. Why not seat its members alphabetically instead of by party. Democrat Abercrombie next to Republican Aderholt, all the way to Democrat Yarmuth next to Republican Young.

Making conversation with your next-seat neighbor makes a lot more sense than making faces across the aisle—might even promote civil discourse instead of civil disobedience as the country deals with a host of crises.