Lori Sturdevant: Thoughts on budget? The floor is open.

For 10 seconds, consider selling a batch of state parks. Or consolidating rural school districts into regional units. Or turning off every other streetlight, all over the state.

Ideas that normally would have been discarded out of hand -- or passed around the State Office Building for staff amusement -- are suddenly worth at least 10 seconds of lawmakers' time.

That's what happens when already-strained "normal" gives way to the worst financial distress in state and local governments in 25 years. And when state politicians follow the lead of President-elect Barack Obama and get serious about using the Internet to better connect citizens with government.

With the new year and the new legislative session, which convenes Tuesday, has dawned new receptivity in state and local governments for even wild and crazy ideas to save money and/or stimulate the economy. The Minnesota House is inviting such input at www.house.mn, or by phone: greater Minnesota: 1-800-685-8907, metro area: 651-297-8185.

Don't be shy. No idea is too far-fetched to float. I can attest that plenty of interesting stuff is out there. It will do more good in the House's e-mail box than in mine. (Permit a word to the fellow who recently suggested to me that Minneapolis and St. Paul should merge: I'm sorry I laughed out loud.)

A $5.5 billion state budget deficit in 2010-11 (I'm counting inflation on both sides of the ledger) ought to open at least some government minds to heretofore unimagined or unimaginable possibilities. And to the reconsideration of some previously discarded ones -- even by the people who did the discarding.

For example: Expansion of gambling was judged a bad idea only a few years ago, for sound reasons. But will those reasons still seem so compelling if the alternative is Medicaid cuts that shut down a quarter of the state's nursing homes? That's a hypothetical Hobson's choice, but in this environment, not an implausible one.

The House's effort to collect creative alternatives from average Minnesotans is a bid to avert sour dilemmas like that one at session's end.

But it's also a recognition that a new generation is on the rise, with heightened expectations for easy e-participation in government and everything else. Witness the popularity of www.change.gov, Obama's effort to collect policy input and keep his electronic network of supporters engaged.

The Minnesota House's Web invitation for input is a good deal more modest than Obama's. It's also scrupulously bipartisan, as befits its prominent position on the official House website. Still, as House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher reported on New Year's Eve, it attracted 230 comments in less than two full weeks of operation -- a worthy showing during holiday weeks.

Minnesota pragmatism and energy-consciousness shine through many of the posts to date: Allow workers to telecommute. Conduct meetings via teleconference. Turn off lights. Turn down thermostats.

Suggestions for government consolidation are popping up on the House website and in other places, too. An old question is surfacing anew: Does Minnesota really need 87 counties, 855 cities, 340 school districts, 1,800 or so townships -- and 201 legislators? State Rep. Phyllis Kahn might be well-advised to dust off her bill to convert 87 counties into 10 and give it a fresh shot.

There's also a motion springing from the Association of Minnesota Counties for replacing spending mandates with outcome requirements for county services. Association president and Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough assures that there's money to be saved if the state stops telling counties how much to spend and tells them instead what aims they should achieve.

Are there $5.5 billion in savings in ideas like these? No -- likely not even close. Some of them would require money up front to implement. Some should be junked, regardless of their potential for savings. (I've thought about it for 10 seconds. Let's not sell any state parks.)

But put together enough sensible $50,000 and $500,000 ideas, and lawmakers won't need as many of the painful $500 million ones. And they might end up creating a smarter, better, more modern government in the process.

Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist. She is at lsturdevant@startribune.com.