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It is time to start having government operate more like a business. My first suggestion calls for auditing government departments based on standard business practices. This would provide for a more accurate tracking of department spending and management practices. Given that OMB has evaluated 607 federal programs and assigned 33% grades of "effective" and "results not demonstrated" this should provide compelling reason for more scrutiny. But it is only a first step.

Each department should create a permanent board of businessmen to investigate where the department is mismanaged and to recommend management changes to department programs or when advisable their reduction or elimination. To ensure the recommendations do not get lost in the blizzard of blue papers that regularly deluge federal departments the proposals would be presented to Congress and be subject to an up-or-down vote. There would be no passing of the buck. Congress would vote either to improve the operations of a federal department or agency or else members who voted against the recommendations had better be prepared to offer a convincing explanation for their opposition.

The board of volunteer overseers would have regular input about the department they monitor and its activities from an Independent Auditor. The IA would be able to investigate the department and the volunteer board's ideas and suggestions.

Grassroots conservatives have a real role to play in the battle to have our federal government demonstrate greater fiscal restraint. You must keep the pressure on your Congressman and Senators to put the national interest ahead of pork-barrel interest. More importantly, you have to let them know the system is broke. It needs fixing.

Too often legislators are fiscal conservatives in election season and spendaholics after Congress convenes. Presidents will come and go, but the basic appropriations and budgeting processes remain without any systematic demand for strong oversight and accountability. There has been plenty of big talk about stopping runaway spending, but it sure hasn't meant much measured in real cuts to the federal budget. It's time for a different approach, one with more modest steps but which have the potential to start drawing attention to the fraud, waste, mismanagement and duplication that exists within the federal government's agencies and departments.

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Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.

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