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Relevance: 34% Posted on: October 23, 2000
What if they held an election and nobody came? Well, it happened several weeks ago, in New Ashford, Massachusetts. But before folks start wringing their hands about voter apathy, they should take note of the fact that there wasn't anything to vote for. Oh, sure, candidates were on the ballot…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: March 19, 2001
You had to know they've been looking for it. Well, they've found it. Proof that term limits don't work. Oh, forget all the arguments politicians made when term limits were first being debated that it would create utter chaos, that state and local governments would simply grind to a halt…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: September 27, 2011
California’s initiative process gets blamed for every political problem the state confronts . . . that is, by many legislators and political insiders. Two measures receive the bulk of the ire: Proposition 13 and Proposition 98. Liberals bemoan Prop 13’s requirement of a two-thirds legislative vote to raise taxes, preventing…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: May 12, 2008
Honest people with income and bills know that it’s possible to cut spending. We don’t always do it when we should. Sometimes we’re undisciplined. But we suffer costs for that lack of discipline. We suffer them directly—as individuals and as families. In the world of government expenditure, however, it’s always…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: July 5, 1999
Term limits are taking effect all over the country and the results have been more competitive elections with new people getting involved in the process. That's a very good thing, unless of course you're a career politician who hopes to stay in office forever. Let's face it, the people and…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: March 12, 2001
Sometimes you just have to do it yourself if there's a way. For term limits and many other reforms, the citizen initiative process is a way that the people, not the politicians, can lay down the law. In 24 states, initiative and referendum allows citizens to propose a law and…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: July 30, 2016
On July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: July 30, 2017
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: July 30, 2018
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: March 26, 2001
Experience. You know what that is. What you collect when you're a career politician looking for ever more clever ways to spend other people's money and complicate other people's lives. "Oh, we need experienced legislators here!" cry the expert denizens of our state capitol buildings. "It takes decades to get…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: October 31, 2001
I think you remember how Congress and the President pass so-called "continuing resolutions" whenever they can't agree on a federal budget. It's not hard. You just take the five minutes you need to conduct a roll call and you do it. That's why it's so annoying that Congress says it's…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: August 7, 2000
One claim made by term limits supporters is that limits will provide more opportunities for women and minorities to play a larger role in the political process. Term limits also promise greater representation. As a white male, I have nothing against white males, believe me. I also think someone's principles…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: December 10, 2003
Sometimes people say that term limits are irrelevant. It's not that they oppose term limits. It's just that they think political process as such doesn't matter at all. As one skeptic puts it, "the central problem is American culture, not legislative culture. The country wants to spend without paying, and…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: March 29, 1999
There they go again. Career politicians in Washington are conspiring to grab another pay raise. Little do they seem to care that most of us the folks who pay the bills and the ones they're supposed to be representing believe Congress is already overpaid, over-perked and over-pensioned. The base salary…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: April 16, 2001
It's great to have protection. I think you know what I mean. The right of initiative and referendum. The right to directly pass a good law or knock out a bad one. The right to govern your governors. Maybe you remember Proposition 13, the California law passed in the 1970s…
Relevance: 34% Posted on: February 21, 2000
In football, it doesn't get any better than the NFL. That's what it means to be a pro. In politics, to be "a pro" means something very different. Missouri State Sen. John Schneider has been in office for 30 years. He doesn't like the term limits that 75 percent of…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: October 8, 2003
The apocalypse . . . Armageddon . . . the California recall. Well, that's one down. And I feel good about it. The recall was called all manner of wild and crazy names by elitist bipartisan hipsters. However, it turned out to be just another example of the American-as-apple-pie process…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: April 30, 2001
What's the point of democracy? Isn't it to delegate authority to representatives who then discuss and debate the issues, vote their conscience and so forth? Or are these so-called representatives just supposed to follow the orders of one guy at the top? Californians still remember how Gray Davis groused about…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: February 19, 2008
Are you like me? Are you interested in the right of direct democracy, of initiative and referendum? Do you wish we had some nifty collaborative way to aggregate fast-changing facts about citizen initiatives and other ballot issues? No sooner do I wave my magic wand than somebody else has done…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: May 29, 2019
The logic for drug prohibition is direct: to keep people from hurting themselves with recreational drugs, we must prevent them from accessing those drugs. Voilà! There are a number of things wrong with that, though, and one is this: governments cannot even keep illegal drugs out of prisons. In California,…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: July 30, 2020
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: July 30, 2019
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: July 30, 2021
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: July 30, 2022
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: April 12, 1999
Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath which says, "Do no harm." Politicians should really have something like this. When it comes to the First Amendment, they do. Our Founders took no chances in protecting the ability of citizens to speak out, assemble, petition government and communicate politically. The First Amendment guards…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: May 12, 2017
Yesterday, the chief sponsor of a Washington State legislative bill withdrew it. He said it was “a joke.” His co-sponsor wasn’t laughing, however . . . even proclaimed an intent to introduce the bill again next year. The legislation’s purpose? Split the state into two. The eastern, drier half of…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: November 13, 2000
Seems everybody has the right to make a deal except the American voter. This election season, some voters wanted to boost Ralph Nader's vote count without hurting chances for Gore. So they visited web sites that let Nader supporters living in states where the race was tight trade votes with…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: December 1, 2003
I don't get too excited about either major political party. When the Democrats are in, I think, "Oh my goodness, the Democrats are in!" With the Republicans in, I think, "Oh my goodness, the Republicans are in!" When everything is nice and bipartisan, I think: "Oh my goodness, another pay…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: May 21, 2001
Like gum under a bus seat. That's how Congressman Ric Keller describes wasteful and unfair federal programs that America's taxpayers just can't seem to get rid of. All thanks to career politicians afraid of offending some narrow special interest or other. Representative Keller is a freshman from Orlando, Florida who…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: May 10, 1999
The Empire is striking back. The American people voted and voted for term limits. This decade 23 states placed limits on their congressional delegations. Eighteen states (40 percent of the population) now have limits on their state legislatures. Thousands of local officials across the country have mandated rotation in office.…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: July 10, 2009
We are so shocked by the skyrocketing spending and taxes at the federal level — and by mammoth expansion of government control of our lives being attempted at the federal level — and by the nonstop huffing hubris of federally fumbling politicians eager to solve problems caused by past policy…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: August 16, 1999
In a democratic republic, we control our government largely by voting. That's why it's a so sad to see the low voter turnout in so many elections. Is there a way to fix this? Some people argue we should slap fines on people who fail to vote or even throw…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: September 4, 2001
Do term limits help? I mean, do they really, really help our political leaders behave in a more responsible manner? Well, my goodness they would have to, at least insofar as they show the door to the most corrupt careerists and make way for new people, more idealistic people. If…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: June 24, 2010
What do you do when your town’s politics has been bitter and internecine for years, when your police force is best known for hiring disgraced cops from other departments, and when your town budget is nearly half a million bucks in the red? Give up. Well, not quite. The town…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: August 31, 2011
Our country is divided politically — or so we hear — right from left, liberal from conservative, progressive from libertarian. Nothing new. Yet, don’t we all agree on the main points? Certain truths remain self-evident: Government must have the consent of the governed. ‘We, the People’ are the boss. Our…
Relevance: 33% Posted on: April 23, 2001
Gosh, it's tough having to run for office without already being a permanently entrenched incumbent who can just snap his fingers and instantly command vast resources and firepower. These out-of-work career politicians really have my sympathy. Consider, for example, the plight of former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. He's running…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: April 18, 2008
Do citizen initiative rights give voters or give special interests "too much" power to pass bad laws? Sure, bad initiatives sometimes pass. But as Eric Dixon points out at the Show-Me Institute blog, our intermittently esteemed representatives do not religiously avoid passing bad bills. Lawmakers enact lousy laws galore. Dixon…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: July 30, 2023
July 30, 1419, the First Defenestration of Prague: Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall, on Charles Square. While they were marching, a stone was thrown…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: March 31, 2010
Hurray for John Smelser! After five months of unfailing footwork, in late February, the 67-year-old celebrated his 5,500th signature for a petition to limit the terms of council members in Menifee, California. That’s over 2,000 more than the 3,382 he needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. But he…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: July 8, 2018
This weekend’s Townhall foray is, yes, an expansion of Tuesday’s Common Sense, “Freedom Weaponized,” but is perhaps more shareable, because it gets a bit deeper. Check it out. Share it. Then come back here for the R&D: New York Times: “How Conservatives Weaponized the First Amendment” United States Supreme Court:…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: December 9, 2014
Cain was a witty fellow. He asked one of the best-known rhetorical questions, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Of course he was not. But that was irrelevant. He was covering up something. About what he had done to his brother. So, when I hear the phrase “my brother’s keeper,” I…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: September 17, 2001
Every 10 years we take a census so that new political lines can be drawn for Congress and the state legislatures. It's the state legislatures that draw the lines, which are then ratified like any other piece of legislation. These lines really matter. As the Center for Voting and Democracy…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: July 16, 2001
In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the farm animals overthrow the human farmer and set up a society of strict equality. Yet, no sooner is the society established than the political leaders become a special class. The slogan, "All animals are equal," gets an amendment: "But some animals are more equal…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: October 7, 2019
On October 7, 1691, the charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay was issued. Also on a seventh day of the tenth month, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which closed Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements. On October 7, 1792, George…
Relevance: 32% Posted on: April 16, 2021
Some stories linger in the background, under-acknowledged, never really addressed, driving us a bit crazy. Example? Deficit spending and debt accumulation. The problems that deficit financing inflicts upon us are many and devastating. We would be a lot wealthier, healthier, and wiser were the federal government not so madly out-of-control.…
Relevance: 31% Posted on: October 7, 2020
On October 7, 1691, the charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay was issued. Also on a seventh day of the tenth month, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which closed Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements. On October 7, 1792, George…
Relevance: 31% Posted on: October 7, 2021
On October 7, 1691, the charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay was issued. Also on a seventh day of the tenth month, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which closed Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements. On October 7, 1792, George…
Relevance: 31% Posted on: June 7, 1999
New York's Legislature is a mess. It's like the California State Assembly before citizens there passed term limits and cleared out the career politicians and their partisan back-stabbing and backroom deals. Hofstra Law Professor Eric Lane says: "The New York legislature is the closest thing to non-representative government you'll find…
Relevance: 31% Posted on: March 15, 2011
We’ve had debit cards for most of my adult life. Regularly, people sign their names on electronic pads to obtain medication, credit, what-have-you. You can order books and music and nearly anything online, from your computer, your smartphone, or your new iPad. It’s high time to take democracy into this…
Relevance: 31% Posted on: December 24, 2001
What's the greater danger: a cancer patient in California or a member of al-Queda in Jersey City or the Middle East? We all know the answer to that one. But though the war on terrorism is so much more urgent, the U.S. government keeps throwing billions of tax dollars at…