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The early days of odd-numbered years are always a bit hectic for journalists in this region. States with every-other-year legislatures meet in odd numbered years, like North Dakota and Montana. South Dakota meets every year. Minnesota only has to meet in odd-numbered years, but their lawmakers have met every year since 1973. And the federal folks are always "working" — take the quotation marks any way you'd like to.

The list of bills I've read this year and earmarked to check on throughout the sessions is long and getting longer. My colleagues in other newsrooms are good about pointing me toward agriculture- and rural-related bills. And to get to those bills, I often read a lot of other ones. It's an exercise that could lead to madness.

While social issues and economic issues get a lot of the attention, there is no consensus on many other matters, like methods of agriculture or education or religion or business.

Even food! There are bills about cell-cultured meat and dairy products under consideration in at least a couple states this year. Bills that deal with food always bring me back to , when Garfield solves a dilemma about people (bears, actually) thinking they always had to agree on things through showing that, "In the history of mankind, no two people have ever been able to agree on pizza toppings." (Side note: The crux of the episode, which I found and rewatched just for this column, is about someone acting to get what he wants above the desires of others, so maybe not a perfect analogy. The episode also contains a joke about clowns running for public office. Take that however you'd like, also.)

Whatever you may think of the many iterations of Garfield, Garfield and Friends holds up to the test of time, especially for sarcastic people and in regard to agreement on pizza toppings. But in reality, no two people should agree on everything. What would life be like then? Pretty boring, if you ask me.

And therein lies the problem. Lawmakers tend to spend way too much time arguing about things that really don't matter once you remember that we're all allowed to think and live the way we want as long as we aren't hurting others, and they leave the things that do matter to languish until rushing into bad or incomplete legislation at the last minute.

So, with nearly two decades of closely watching these spectacles as a journalist, I have some advice for our lawmakers everywhere:

1. You represent and serve your constituents. Consider how your bills and your votes will impact all the people you represent, not just the ones who look and think like you.
2. Stop worrying about other people's lives unless their lives are actively hurting someone else. Like pizza toppings, we all have our preferences. If it doesn't affect you, quit legislating it. You waste a lot of time on these things.
3. Spend more time coming up with solutions for the things that really matter, like infrastructure, funding vital programs and fixing problems that already exist, rather than making new problems for a future version of you to fix.
4. Stop thinking in terms of . I hope I speak for a lot of people when I say , even if I like some of the people who belong to them. This isn't a sport. You're there to represent the people, not to score empty political points.
5. Don't be afraid to stand alone, especially against idiocy. Listen to people who know more than you. Study the research. Do what seems to be the right thing for the most people.

So, there you go, lawmakers. Take it or leave it. I'm sure I know which way you'll go. But so help me, if someone suggests legislation for an official pizza topping, I'm going to lose my mind.