With Democrats in charge in the legislature, the Republicans have to do something to keep busy. Last week they put out a plan to create jobs.

They have no chance of enacting their plan, so we'll never know whether it would do any good, or whether it would work better and faster than the approach now being employed through ramping up public works. But it would be interesting to find out.

The centerpiece of the proposal by GOP members in the House and Senate is to reduce state income tax withholding by 4.2 percent. The proponents say this would "put $100 million back into Oregon paychecks and create 2,500 jobs without costing government a penny."

It would cost nothing because Oregon taxpayers will get the money back one way or another as refunds on their state taxes. The only difference is that with this plan, we would not have to send the cash to Salem in the first place.

The federal government is the same. Withholding tables are being lowered. Whether this will have any effect on the economy in terms of people buying houses or cars nobody really knows.

The Republicans also would start what they call a "Main Street Incentive Program" to encourage capital improvements projects in downtown areas. They believe this would result in 5,000 jobs.

They would provide state money to leverage other funds and improve local airports, resulting in 2,200 more jobs.

Also on their list: Reconnecting to the federal tax code, making more use of natural resources like Columbia River water for irrigation and Oregon's federal lands for wood production, and retreating from various environmental agendas pending in the legislature that would cost employers money and jobs.

In an ideal system, these approaches could be tried even though they are proposed by the minority party. Maybe they could be carried out in those districts represented by legislators who proposed them. Then the public could compare the results and see which works better, the minority or the majority plan.

It's politically impossible but would be worth a try: a contest of competing ideas carried out in the real world to see which one works best. (hh)