Great minds, they say, think alike. Well, I'm not claiming to have a great mind, but I've been struck by the fact that one of the recent discussions that's been happening on air and in cyberspace is one in which I have an abiding interest. It's the idea of extending local government, of decentralizing our administration as far as possible, of broadening democracy by giving all Bahamians an immediate stake in their government. Thanks to Vince Ferguson, Steve McKinney and others, these ideas have entered the public's consciousness.I have long been dissatisfied with local government as it exists in the Bahamas. What I want to talk about today is similar to local government, but bigger. I'm going to propose that we Bahamians start thinking about becoming a federation.