I always thought that the general population should be given an opportunity to balance their local, State, and Federal budgets, in game form.  With the current state of technology it wouldn't be hard.

The way it would work is, you'd have a grid, like a big puzzle.  The grid would represent the size of a balanced budget.  Then, you'd have pieces that represent all the costs of running the government, and additional programs.  Every piece would take up a certain ammount of the grid, based on how much they cost.  You place as many pieces as you can into the grid, until it is full.  Any extra pieces would be cut from the budget.  Pieces representing government running costs would be required, while programs are optional.  You can also shrink some of the costs by suggesting layoffs, like reducing the cost of the Fire Deptartment by axing 19 firemen.  Or reducing the budget for renovation of government offices (Two million for a single office!?!).

Then everyone submits their budget, and a computer determines which choices were the most common among the participants.  Then it would generate a budget that the majority agrees upon.

That way, Senior Analists would know they didn't get a whole new office decor this year because the people don't want them to.  And 19 firemen would have the satisfaction of knowing the people they save didn't think they were worth it.