In January President Bush, in the face of a recession, publicly advocated for an “economic stimulus package” of tax relief to jolt the ailing economy. Congress acted with relative swiftness, and Bush signed the $168-billion package in February.

Sure would be nice if government would act with similar haste to also deliver an intellectual-stimulus package — something to clear the way for more creative and robust discourse. Such discourse is at a premium, with mounting and seemingly intractable problems at home and with an increasingly competitive global marketplace. It would be a golden investment in the future.

Here’s four easy steps that would head things in the right direction:

1. Enact bold legislation to clarify and safeguard the free-speech rights of students. Recent court rulings have left students’ First Amendment rights too foggy and compromised. A habit of lively discourse should begin early in life.

2. Repeal all restrictions on political contributions and expenditures — by individuals or corporations. These arbitrary limitations are not serving to improve the quality or fairness of public debate, or of campaigns. They most certainly do, however, limit free expression.

3. Repeal all restraints on truthful commercial speech. So long as advertising is not harmfully deceptive, there is no valid justification for Big Brother’s burdening commercial expression in ways that would be shocking if applied to social or political speech.

4. Enact a national “shield law” for the news media. This would help ensure that news organizations can investigate and report stories aggressively — without diverting resources and jeopardizing sources in the process of answering government subpoenas.