I'd like to say yes, but I almost feel like throwing the question back to you and saying that you're the politicians; you have a better feel for the sense of things.
On a serious note, anything to do with money is just so political. We're talking about an allocation of resources through the tax system. Everybody has an opinion that is driven by their political understanding of things, and I think it's impossible to exclude that. But that doesn't mean you couldn't get some consensus on some key issues. I think you could, even across political lines. I don't think the politics would disappear, but I think there is some consensus.
Take this committee as an example. Certainly the questions I've heard today have been, to me, just fantastic and really interesting. If you asked me to say, as a result of your questions, who belongs to which political party, I actually wouldn't be able to give you an answer. Well, I could, because I actually checked you all out beforehand, but just listening as an independent observer to the questions you're all asking, you're all coming from a very similar space--no disrespect meant at all, obviously, to your political allegiances.
So I do think you can't eliminate the politics, but there's certainly an opportunity for people who care deeply about issues and who may have different opinions to still reach some consensus.