Author: Redactor

Categories
national politics & policies

Must It Be Racism?

One of the two major-party candidates for president is black, the other white.

Obviously, there is much more to say about them. We can talk about their ideas, character, experience, communication skills. Presumably, conscientious voters will choose the person they think can best do the job — regardless of race.

Not so, says Jacob Weisberg of Slate.com. According to Weisberg, given the collapse of the Republicans and the weak economy, everything is stacked in favor of Barack Obama. Therefore, if Obama loses the election, only racism could explain it.

Weisberg offers no coherent argument. He simply asserts that Obama has vastly more advantages than liabilities, while with McCain it’s vice versa. So the right choice is transparently obvious.

And hey, even if you disagree with Obama’s policy prescriptions, at least they’re “serious attempts” to deal with big problems. It doesn’t seem to occur to Weisberg that the “seriousness” of a proposed policy is not what makes it right or wrong. Or that a voter might reasonably consider the actual content of a proposal.

Of course, some voters might reject Obama out of racism. But it’s not self-evident that “racism is the only reason McCain might beat him.”

And would it not be racist, condescending, unjust, and downright stupid for us voters to treat a black man’s qualifications for the job of president as irrelevant, just to prove we’re not racist?

To his credit, Mr. Obama would expect more of us than that.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
initiative, referendum, and recall term limits

Fast-Moving Planet

This presidential campaign is about change, but it’s outside of government that change comes fast and furious. Maybe it’s just my advancing age but the world seems to be speeding 90 miles an hour into the future.

Actually, we’re spinning at over 1,000 miles an hour and soaring around the Sun at 67 times that rate. Some days it feels like it.

Yes, there is going to be change. It ought to come from us, not the insiders — or the politicians running to purportedly change Washington, or to change your neck of the woods, often after decades in office.

Most of our changes won’t come through government policies. They’ll happen in the marketplace, or at church, through a non-profit group, or in the neighborhood or family. But some changes do require politics.

Then, “We, the People” must be able to act. Which means citizens must be able to pass an initiative or call a referendum on a law passed by legislators.

Americans overwhelmingly agree, but some reformers don’t get it.

Once I argued with a major term limits supporter who suggested that term limits would improve legislatures enough to render the initiative process unnecessary.

Not long after, I debated an advocate of public financing for political campaigns. He said the initiative wouldn’t be needed once his reform was achieved.

There are many reforms. Because we live in an ever-changing world, we need the ability to keep making reforms. That’s the voter initiative.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
local leaders

A Burr Under the Government Saddle

His name is not Dan Kramer Burr, it’s simply Dan Kramer. The “Burr” stands for what he is, metaphorically: “a burr under their saddle.”

The “their” stands for Delaware’s Sussex County Council.

I found out about Dan on SunshineReview.org, which not long ago honored him as Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week. A local paper’s profile on the semi-retired bean farmer filled in some fascinating details.

He sits near the back of the room, and, before meeting’s end, he stands up to introduce himself. “This is Dan Kramer,” he explains . . . but doesn’t really need to. In Sussex County he’s attended more meetings than even the elected officials.

The paper calls him an ombudsman . . . and that fits, for his telephone answering machine sports an interesting outgoing message: “Your problem is my problem,” it intones.

And, by going to every meeting, he can help. His voice carries weight.

He carries a copy of the Freedom of Information Act to every meeting. And he’s a stickler on a number of subjects. “People call me a watchdog,” he admits, but goes on to clarify: “I’m really a junkyard dog who will bite you in the gasket.”

My kind of troublemaker.

I hope you have someone like him in your area. If you don’t, the position is yours to take. According to Dan Kramer, the rewards are many.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
initiative, referendum, and recall

Letting Citizens Vote

Congressman Randy Kuhl has the right idea. Or half of it.

His notion is to let constituents help him choose the bill he will introduce in the Congress this fall. It’s part of what he calls the “Fix Washington” Project. Most people think Washington is broken. So Congressman Kuhl wants constituents to tell him how it might be fixed.

Voters in his district were invited to submit their suggestions for legislation that might put DC back together again. He received four hundred suggestions. Of these, he picked five for everybody to vote on. Some of the proposals make me think that my idea of fixing Washington isn’t always the same as other people’s idea of fixing Washington. But I like number five: term limit the Congress.

The proposed term limits are kind of weak, capping the tenure of both senators and House members at twelve years. And I doubt such a bill would get past square one with this Congress. But sure, let’s go for it. At this moment, the winning proposal hasn’t been announced. But I’m rooting for term limits.

I’m also rooting for a way to give all voters a chance to propose and even pass laws statewide, locally, nationally. Twenty-four states have the right of citizen initiative, which enables voters to end-run the stonewalling of their sometime representatives. Let’s make that possible everywhere.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets government transparency national politics & policies too much government

A Question Worth Asking?

The presidential candidates talk about leadership and change. What’s the one question that combines both, but is not asked? Simple: What happens if it all comes crashing down?

After the worst stock market drop since 9/11, the question doesn’t seem so out of place. Our federal government’s debt is rising fast. Even if we balanced the budget tomorrow, the government would have a deep, multi-trillion dollar debt. Trillions and trillions, you might say.

So, Mr. Obama; so, Mr. McCain — what do you do when the Treasury can’t find anyone to invest in all the debt we have created, and must maintain? What do we do when the compounding of interest and increased deficits make monthly maintenance impossible?

Neither of you have even suggested a balanced budget early in your first term. So what do you do when our credit goes crunch?

Add to this the federal government’s obligations to the citizenry, in the form of Social Security retirements and Medicare and pensions and such, and what can you do?

How do you stave off — or, if not, survive — a worldwide depression?

The scenario is not fantastic. Just look at current figures and crunch the numbers.

So, what would Senators Obama and McCain say? I’d be curious what Bob Barr and Ralph Nader would say, too. Have they thought of the possibility?

This is one question that sure would make the upcoming debates interesting.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
ballot access initiative, referendum, and recall insider corruption

A Rose Blooms in Michigan

Rose Bogeart reminds me of my mother. Both are from Michigan. Rose is the president of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. Mom hails from Jackson. Both love their Detroit Tigers, hate tax increases.

Rose led this year’s charge to recall Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon. I’ve talked before about the tax hike state legislators imposed against the clear wishes of Michigan citizens. I’ve also exposed the establishment’s incredible intimidation campaign to block Rose’s recall drive.

This harassment included bad actions by state employees working for Dillon and even some police groups. Despite this, Rose and company collected nearly twice the number of voter signatures needed.

In June, Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land ruled that the petition lacked the requisite signatures, after she had opted to enforce restrictions already ruled unconstitutional in very clear U.S. Supreme Court decisions, throwing out a huge batch of signatures. Then, the Michigan courts refused to give Rose and Redford Township recall advocates any relief.

So, Rose went to federal court, where a judge quickly granted an injunction requiring Secretary of State Land to count the disputed signatures.

Now, against every sling and arrow imaginable, Speaker Dillon’s recall will be on the November ballot.

For the first time ever, a state’s House speaker may be removed by popular vote.

Rose, I thank you; history thanks you; my mother thanks you.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
porkbarrel politics

One Very Fine Pig

The political season is upon us, and people get hung up on the goofiest things. Like jokes.

Sarah Palin jested about hockey moms and pit bulls, the biggest difference between them being, she says, “lipstick.”

Then Barack Obama fought back, attacking the McCain-Palin ticket and Republican policy in general with another such comparison: “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.”

And, it turns out that them’s fightin’ words, because, well, Mrs. Palin is thought to “own” the word “lipstick,” and, some said, Obama had just called her a pig.

No he didn’t. If one has to deconstruct the whole fracas into symbols, Palin would be the lipstick, McCain the pig.

Of course, Obama was really talking about policies. But which policies of John McCain was Obama complaining about, which were . . . porcine?

How about McCain’s best issue, pork itself? Unfortunately for him, Sarah Palin has been too pork-receptive in her days as an Alaskan politician. McCain has resisted pork. He’s not made requesting earmarks part of his job. Obama, on the other hand, though demanding that all pork requests be put up transparently, with full disclosure, is known to ask for quite a lot. In fact, nearly a million dollars for every day he’s been in office.

It’s a pity that in all this talk of lipstick-wearing pigs, the real pork issue gets lost. No joke.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
government transparency insider corruption local leaders

Learning from Sal Grosso

Sal Grosso, a retired man in his 80s, moved to Cape Coral, Florida, after a successful career as a troubleshooter for New York State’s phone network. Since then he has served as troubleshooter for the government of Cape Coral, writing a column, kicking up a fuss.

And boy, does Cape Coral need a troubleshooter! Sal has uncovered a whole network of incompetence and corruption in the water, sewer, and charter school bureaucracies.

After years of trying, he got the state to do an operational audit of the town — which is now under federal investigation.

While preparing a column about him for Townhall.com, I learned about Sal’s methods. He solves problems through a common-sense process he calls “sectionalization.” Start with a problem area, divide it in half. Determine which half holds the problem, focus on it and repeat.

“You keep whittling the problem down until you’ve isolated it,” he says, “to a very manageable size, which enables you to decide on where to look, and what to look for.”

He’s done this with the local water system, the city budget, sewer — you name it.

If you have a knack for problem solving — say, you like puzzles — then why not follow Sal’s example and give your local governments a look? Governments often present huge puzzles. Unravelling the messes that politicians and bureaucrats have made can be very rewarding.

Well, perhaps not so much. But it IS critical in keeping government accountable.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
general freedom too much government

Ideas Semi-Move the World

Ideas move the world. Want a better world, spread good ideas as widely as possible.

If you can expose enough people to the right ideas, everything will work out for the best, with an ever-wider vista of freedom and achievement as the inevitable consequence. Right?

Well . . . not quite. Ideas and values don’t have any kind of independent existence. Individuals must accept and apply them. Hillary Clinton once admitted to being inspired by Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s mammoth novel celebrating freedom and entrepreneurship and attacking socialism. Yet Hillary still ended up trying to ram socialist health care down our throats. And she ain’t done yet.

Or take Vladimir Putin, the repressive semi-post-Communist Russian leader whose government just invaded the former satellite country of Georgia. The autocratic Putin is no Stalin, but he’s no Jefferson either . . . even if he did attend a Cato seminar on the values of a free society.

It’s true! I recently stumbled across a 2004 issue of Cato Policy Report, published by the libertarian Cato Institute. Ed Crane, Cato’s president, reported that during a long meeting with Putin, Crane and others discussed the benefits of a free press and concerns that the Russian government was repressing the media. Putin seemed open to a more across-the-board freedom. He even said he wanted to “make Moscow the center of liberal debate in Europe.”

Really? Try a little harder, Vlad.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets local leaders too much government

Gateway Capitalism

You’ve heard of “gateway drugs.” What about “gateway capitalism”?

The mayor of Clayton, California, apparently believes that two little girls selling zucchinis and melons by the roadside is the start of something bad.

The city cracked down on Katie and Sabrina Lewis’s veggie stand. Mayor Gregg Manning defended the bust, saying that “They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have. Is all the produce made there, do they make it themselves? Are they going to have eggs and chickens for sale next?”

Heavens! Capitalism run amok! Streetside vendors are to be allowed only when city governments run the show, as in the growing movement to establish old-fashioned day-markets. You know, Saturday Markets and Sunday Markets and the like.

But veggie stands, like dreaded lemonade stands, are illegal in Clayton.

You can understand the concern, I guess: Traffic problems. This police operation started off on one complaint. But most neighbors defend the stand, saying that traffic was never a problem.

So now 11-year-old Katie has gotten political. She circulated a petition to reopen the stand, and has lots of signatures. Best of luck to Katie and Sabrina, but I am afraid that the lesson you’ll really be learning isn’t about capitalism at all. It’s about bureaucracy.

And an awful void of common sense.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.