My suggestions take two forms: things this (or another) site should have, and topics we should be discussing.

First, the site. It is a great start, and definitely an improvement over what the current administration has to offer. Nevertheless, it is a bit limited. A threaded comment list is probably not the easiest thing to manage, especially when the comments number in the thousands per topic. What might be better is a system whereby the most valuable or popular comments are encouraged to float to the top (much like the current thumbs up/thumbs down system you already have in place), but with a subset of the user base able to help determine what those valuable comments are. An earlier comment suggested badges or some kind of authority system, and that would be good too. Combining this with an open system such as a wiki could allow certain community members to establish expertise in an area, giving their comments on such topics greater weight (all of this can be user-moderated) and possibly increasing their impact on moderation of other comments. I'm not sure of a piece of software that currently works this way, but I bet there are lots of users in this community who would be able to help create one.

Next, the topics. Obviously the economy and health care are important topics, and they deserve a good deal of our attention, but there are some other important discussions we need to have. I would like to see some discussion on how to address the lack of basic science research being done in this country (all the money is going to the glamorous research, like cancer and the like, and while they are important too, there are some fundamental questions we still need to answer). By neglecting basic research, we are sending messages to our future scientists that there may be no place for them in the US; they will leave. We need to have discussions on how to promote local food production instead of relying on the massive global distribution systems we use now, and which account for a large percentage of our oil-based energy consumption. We need to think about ideas like victory gardens, farmers markets, coops, and any other ideas that will ensure sustainable long term food production while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. We should be discussing our electric power infrastructure, our public transportation infrastructure, national broadband policies, and government transparency through e-democracy and e-government. These represent a mere start, because we have a long way to go.

I'm just glad for the opportunity to discuss this openly, whatever the outcome.