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Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors

Last week, we asked riders of the HuffPost Sanity Bus to tell us the one thing they would do to help restore sanity to America, and offered free Flipcams for the 200 most compelling responses.

The reaction was great, with over 1,000 submissions delivered via email, Twitter, Facebook, and our comments section. We've picked our winners, and we'll be notifying them today.

In the meantime, here are some of our favorite suggestions for how we can collectively restore sanity -- all of which, of course, are among the Flipcam winners. America needs all the sanity it can get, so add your ideas below!

The single best way to restore sanity is to stop telling us what "the people" want, and start asking the people what they want. -- Danielle Charles

We need to realize that politics isn't a game of good vs evil, but of differing opinions on what course the country should take. -- Mike Isasi

The single best way to restore sanity is to laugh at the things that don't make sense; use the sense of humor evolution gave you. -- Lynn Cook

Focus on science education! It teaches how to use objective and logical reasoning, rather than ad hominem arguments, to address problems. -- Kimberly Hofmeyer

Insanity Points. Whenever a public figure says something hypocritical or willfully ignorant they get one. Like golf, low score wins. -- Sean Ward ‎

Pure and simple: encourage more exercise among young Americans. Healthy bodies make for healthy minds and critical thinking. -- Eric Blattberg

If we want to restore sanity to America, America needs to chill out. We'll think straighter, be more alert during work hours, and be happier people. It's time for our overworked and under-rested citizens to chill out and take a nap for America. -- Rob Kenney

All we need is the radical application of common sense! -- Ben Kaufman ‎

Learn, understand, think, and open your mind. Then, form your own opinion. Embrace people different from you. Slow your world down, and look around. It's beautiful. -- Eric Shiffman

We're looking for the answers but we forgot the questions. Return to sanity by starting at the beginning. Before the craziness. -- Melissa Bunni Elian

If we all try and walk in each other`s shoes, I think sanity could be restored. -- Amanda Holpuch

To restore sanity, we must first eradicate apathy. When one gains the desire to discover truth, then one can make better informed decisions. -- Angel Wong

Teach our children that the path to a better future lies not in pursuing one's own self-interests but rather in pursuing the common good! -- Sarah Bowe

We must reestablish a discourse that is civil and free of personal prejudices, taking into account multiple arguments beyond left v. right. -- Stephen Sullivan

Carry a pocketful of notes that say, "Just breathe," & "I love you." Leave them between the pages of books & on the seats of subway cars. -- GennaRose Nethercott

Let us constantly remind ourselves, above all we are Americans, and our success or failure will be measured upon our ability to come together to build a better future for our children. -- Mike Corn

Einstein said: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Try something new every day. -- James Reed

Create several twenty-four hour fact checking channels and websites of non-partisan qualified researchers who would monitor any information given to the public by both politicians and the press. Sort of a "Consumers Reports" for information. -- Ralph M. Toporoff

 
 
 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Paul Frederick
04:32 PM on 11/02/2010
To restore sanity do not worry about what the people want, they do not know what is good for them. Good and evil exist as matters of perspective, but they still exist. Life is not a laughing matter. If I wanted to be ruled by pure logic I would move to the planet Vulcan. Some of the biggest idiots I have ever known were jocks. America was founded on the Puritan work ethic and should remain true to its roots. Most things are amazingly counter intuitive, so common sense fails. The purpose of an open mind is to close it, on particular subjects. If you never do — you've simply abdicated the responsibility to think. Most people would collapse from exhaustion of they tried to walk in my shoes. Today's truth is tomorrow's punchline. Oh stop with the kid crap already all they are is more liabilities. etc. etc. The liberals are going to take the beating they all so richly deserve today!

Ha ha
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jeff Augustine
02:31 PM on 10/31/2010
To restore sanity and civility to the political process it has to come from the top of both parties.
President Obama now has the upper hand in this issue, but I doubt he will use it.

He did good by not prosecuting President Bush at the start of his term.

Now if he were to call Rep Boenher and Sen, McConnell into the white house and say something like
"this country has been too divided by the political process and it has to stop, You gentlemen will start to act civilly and play nice and your colleagues in the house and senate will do the same. Else un-redacted copies of paper will mysteriously find there way to the world court."

Do you think that members of the Republican Party will want to Chenney and Bush prosecuted for war crimes?

It seems to me that the only thing these people understand is a threat, Why not use the trump card that he holds to reign in the rhetoric and use the bully pulpit he has.

I for one would love to see Rand Paul condemn the violence.
12:17 PM on 10/30/2010
The word "restore" presumes that the characteristic already existed - but sanity is not a fundamental aspect of the story of America - America's fundamental characteristic is the pursuit of material wealth and the comfort it brings at whatever cost to morality, ethics, etc. Like the biblical Babylon - its morality has always been a veneer. We like to look at our institutions - academia, technology, economic, religious, education, and social as "proof" of how civilized we are but in reality they ultimately only serve the interests of special interest groups. "Good times" occur when those special interest groups are able to create mutually beneficial political alliances. "Bad times" are simply the power struggles when the alliances threaten to or actually fall apart. In good times we comfort ourselves with our material accomplishments and in bad times we fight like junk yard dogs to hold onto them. Sanity in America has never been other than a superficial facade - we're finally getting a real look at what we've always been, its just more visible now.
12:07 PM on 10/30/2010
The NBC affiliate in the DFW metroplex started nightly fact checks on the statements made by candidates for governor and its great. This is a very good suggestion, its like 21st century journalism for finding the truth of what's said really fast. Hard to run a negative campaign ad against getting fact-checked on air the same night.
11:47 AM on 10/30/2010
It's days before an election and this is what you give me HuffPost??

The comments about "let's all get along" seam a little insincere considering all the mud slinging on these posts. The majority of your readers have enjoyed calling so many people all sorts of names - racists, teabagger, liars, religious fanatics, and those are some of the nicer comments and this list goes on an on and on. And those comments are worse here then most any other website.

Now you want to play the peace card, your all about peace, love, tolerance and getting along. All that you claim to behold, really means nothing to you. It is easy to say I want peace, who isn't going to agree. But even that simple and very agreeable comment you can't back and follow though with.

Ack!
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JimInHouston
Arma virumque cano...
09:23 PM on 10/30/2010
With their side about to be trounced in the election, the lefties are turning into born-again compromisers.
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68Namvet
Sioux, French, German, Jew, American mutt
11:21 AM on 10/30/2010
Want sanity? Stop believing that it is acceptable to invade other countries and kill their citizens under the guise of "preemptive war". It is as insane as killing your next door neighbor and claiming it was "preemptive self defense".
04:35 AM on 11/01/2010
Have you never heard of llap goch, the Welsh art of Self defence? Please see: http://www.llapgoch.org.uk/

This is not insane, it's Welsh!
05:31 PM on 10/29/2010
Did you know that other countries (England) don't allow political advertising? My, my, that would change the whole dynamic. Give whatever you want, but the position is up to the candidate. How novel!
05:13 PM on 10/29/2010
The US if not the World is like the Titanic that has hit an iceberg. Rather that getting all knowledgeable hands on deck to participate with "no strings attached" solutions, everyone is arguing about what they will wear in the lifeboats. Inspire yourself to become rational, reasonable and responsible. Build bridges rather than fences. Learn about and appreciate the diversity of those unlike yourself. Then we might have a chance.
04:22 PM on 10/29/2010
Where can I find he complete list of flipcam winning comments?
04:05 PM on 10/29/2010
One must be sane first in order to retore it. Right wing politics for example.
Dave Adelberg
02:54 PM on 10/29/2010
Platitudes, platitudes. Nothing I have seen on this list seems to deal with the reality that there is a real battle for the right to set the future policy of this country. When I hear Harry Reid and VP Biden say that they think Replublicans will work with us in the new Congress, all I hear even louder, is Boehner and Pence saying that there "will be NO compromise"! The next round of in-sanity comes from the whack-o's like O'Donnell, Angle, Paul and Miller. Vote Democrat, early and often, and let's hope we do find some "cajones" dealing with the Right. and let's leave God out of the discourse!
07:16 AM on 10/31/2010
Hear, Hear!
12:22 PM on 10/29/2010
I think we could restore a great deal of sanity if all candidates in all elections were only allowed to campaign on what THEY would do, if elected, to fix America's problems. Any negatives about their opponents could only be brought out by the media.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
wckoko
It's been real.Real what, we're not saying...
02:01 AM on 10/31/2010
And it should be mandatory that candidates actually state specifically WHAT they would do, not merely utter generalities & promises to tell only after they are elected.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mzkitti
6/3/1927
11:34 AM on 10/29/2010
Create several twenty-four hour fact checking channels and websites of non-partisan qualified researchers who would monitor any information given to the public by both politicians and the press. Sort of a "Consumers Reports" for information. -- Ralph M. Toporoff
***************
all suggestions are great but this one is the best. Too many lies being told on both sides. I hate liars. And what makes it so strange is that they actually call themselves "Christians" Then, added to that we have entirely TOO MUCH religion being sprouted by idiots,
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Bfair
02:10 PM on 10/29/2010
I agree! When I ask anyone why they are voting the way they are, a majority of them quote reasons based on verifiably false rumors or emails. Keeping up with and debunking these lies is an almost impossible task and the gullibility of the voting public is frightening.
10:45 AM on 10/29/2010
First and foremost, WE need to clean up by sending eviction notices to: The White House, The Senate, The House of Representatives. Next step is to stop all of their wages immediately. Then repocess all of their assets and start foreclosures on all of their properties by auction for the deficite.
After they have been stripped of everything the Tax-Payers have paid for or have payments on, strip each and everyone of them of their clothes, take them out in the desert and drop them off. If any of their faces are seen again, they will be hung.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
bryan broome
Am. The land of the homeless free of the brave.
09:55 AM on 10/29/2010
This one has my vote.
"If we all try and walk in each other`s shoes, I think sanity could be restored." -- Amanda Holpuch