Wouldn’t it be nice if members of the Mississippi House of Representatives and the governor could play nice just for a couple of days — even once in a while?

The latest schoolyard standoff between the adult-aged but intellectually toddler group is on the Medicaid budget.

No surprise there. Funding Medicaid has prompted feuds for years. Unfortunately, all of the feuding does little to streamline the problem, let alone fix it.

Gov. Haley Barbour wants lawmakers to sign off on a restructuring of hospital taxes that would help fund the $90 million gap between the proposed Medicaid’s financial need and what the state has allocated for it.

House leaders have dug in their heels insisting that instead of the hospital tax, Barbour buckle and agree not to veto a proposed cigarette tax.

Barbour vows he won’t budge; instead he has proposed a list of $375 million in cuts he plans.

So it’s a battle of cigarette taxes vs. hospital taxes.

Here’s a novel plan: do both.

If Mississippi really wants to jump ahead, let’s do both and use the “excess” money that’s created to promote healthier living programs or put in a rainy day fund for next year’s Medicaid funding battle.

Or, better yet, let’s get really crazy. If we’re really concerned about the health of residents, we need to tax the heck out of all things that are bad for citizens.

We could call it the Mississippi Morals and Health Act of 2008.

In addition to cigarette taxes, we should also tax the stew out of any alcoholic beverages sold within 30 miles of the Capitol — only levied, however, when the Legislature is in session.

Scaring elderly and poor folks by making them think their healthcare may be in jeopardy?

Why that’ll be a felony under the new law.

Come on lawmakers. We pay you to represent us, not to entertain us with squabbling.