The Big Fix

The Big Fix is a forum for people to present their new domestic policy ideas to experts of different political viewpoints. We move past the intense and unimaginative partisanship in Washington to explore what people want from government and how they want to achieve those goals.

If you want to submit an idea for "The Big Fix," please fill out this form through the Public Insight Network.

About The Big Fix:

There are more than 300 million people in America, but only a sliver of them are paid to make and influence public policy. We give the average person the opportunity to present their innovative idea to people in power. Move past the intense and unimaginative partisanship in Washington by proposing great domestic policy ideas — original ideas that don't require more spending or taxes, but that improve our quality of life. Through discussing the merits of new ideas, we explore what people want from government and how they want to achieve those goals. We show that good ideas can rise above the fray to unite divided political groups and to change the future of America.

The Big Fix Host:

Host and creator Al Lewis is no stranger to new ideas, both good and bad.  His books Why the Heck Aren't We Already Doing This Stuff? and its predecessor OOBonomics: 12 Great Outside the Box Economic Policy Ideas No One Has Thought Of are chock full of mostly good ones.

As for bad ideas, Al's "day job" is ferreting them out in health care policy.  He has assembled dozens of them into a hilarious, critically acclaimed, book called Why Nobody Believes the Numbers, eviscerating healthcare policies-gone-wild, policies that endure mostly because they are supported by what one of Al's heroes, Christopher Robin, might call "politicians of very little brain."

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Arts & Culture

NPR

Three-Minute Fiction Readings: 'Geometry' And 'Snowflake'

NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Snowflake by Winona Wendth of Lancaster, Mass., and Geometry by Eugenie Montague of Los Angeles.

Food

NPR

Gals Who Grill: What Will It Take For Women To Man The Q?

The grill "is the one and only male-dominated appliance in America," says a researcher who recently crunched the numbers. He found that men are more than twice as likely as women to be the primary grillers at home. One reason? Grilling can feel like a form of recreation.

Politics

NPR

IRS Hearings Highlight Ambiguity Of Nonprofits In Politics

The congressional hearings about the IRS's handling of Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status raise the question of why and how tax-exempt groups engage in politics in the first place.

Technology

NPR

Google Reportedly Faces FTC Antitrust Probe Over Display Ads

The Federal Trade Commission is in the early stages of opening an antitrust probe into how Google runs its online display advertising business, according to a report by Bloomberg News, citing sources who want to remain anonymous because the FTC has not announced the probe.