Author: Redactor

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Common Sense

Pick Your Battles

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment means what it says: The right of the people to keep and bear arms – that is, have guns – must not be infringed. While more limited in scope than we might wish, District of Columbia v. Heller affirms that the amendment specifies a right of individuals.

To some observers, the lawsuit yielding this ruling had seemed a bit like tilting at windmills. One skeptic was Glen Reynolds, publisher of the popular blog, InstaPundit. Reynolds, who also teaches law, doubted that a majority could be found on the high court to affirm an individual-rights reading of the Second Amendment.

He now says, “I was wrong, and [Bob Levy] was right. And I’m glad!”

Levy is the Cato Institute scholar who, five years ago, organized and largely bankrolled the suit against the city of Washington, D.C. The city bans residents from owning handguns even to protect their own homes.

Levy notes that Heller is just the “opening salvo” in all the litigation needed to clarify our Second Amendment rights. But at least we now have a “blockbuster decision” that greatly improves the chances of reviving the amendment’s original meaning.

We advocates of liberty must pick our battles. But Heller reminds us that the political landscape and how the struggle itself will affect the prospects for success can’t always be predicted. Levy has certainly proved that this battle is winnable.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is a mental disorder, the compulsion to pull one’s hair out. I think I have it. At least, I find reasons to tear out my hair.

Frayda Levin knows what I’m talking about. As chair of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity, she’s been very passionate on a host of issues. I met her in the course of fighting against eminent domain abuse. We risked follicular damage after Kelo.

Like all sensible taxpayers, Frayda opposes Congress’s corrupt earmark culture, whereby congressmen use our tax dollars to fund their personal favor factories. Recently, she wrote to New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez asking him to support a legislative moratorium on earmarks.

Instead, Senator Menendez wrote back defending his support for earmarked pork. “While our federal agencies implement programs from Washington,” he countered, “they often do not understand the unique needs of the communities and the states.”

When Frayda responded to Senator Menendez, she pointed out how completely ludicrous it was to “send money to D.C.” and “then have to spend resources finding a sympathetic ear, who can, as you note, understand local needs.”

Frayda asked why the senator hadn’t initiated a shake-up of the admittedly out-of-touch federal bureaucracy. She mentioned the 10th Amendment, the role of the states, and inquired why this money should be going to the federal government in the first place.

She got no response to that.

I’m sure Menendez saw danger to his own scalp.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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free trade & free markets too much government

Stay Awake for the Brownouts

Years ago, I would actually listen to lectures by economists on how the electric grid might function better. Pretty much only one thing remains in my head, the conclusion: Regulatory agencies and government-run electrical companies tend to be very inefficient when it comes to capitalizing their enterprises.

Have you nodded off, yet?

Sorry. There’s always been something a bit boring about these discussions. But the subject matter is really worth staying awake for.

Why?

Well, experts predict that in as soon as three years, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland — the area where I live — will be enduring rolling brownouts.

It’s not the fault of PJM, the already-regulated electric transmission company servicing the area. It’s the fault of members of Virginia’s State Corporation Commission and Maryland’s Public Service Commission.

Yes, ever more people are moving into the area. But the officials in charge of allowing new electric infrastructure to be set in place are refusing to grant permission to lay down the miles of new high-voltage electric lines the increasing demand requires.

What’s their rationale? Board members say they need more studies. Bureaucrats love studies. Could it be that friends and family and business partners of the board would be amongst those doing the studies?

I bet economists would have a less incendiary explanation. But the upshot is clear. Bureaucracies can be dangerously slow institutions to rest progress upon.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Starve the Poor, Feed a Senator

Subsidies for ethanol are the biggest reason why food prices are rising faster than gas prices. This is leading to a worldwide humanitarian crisis, with the poor being hit hardest. Think of that when you next pump your ethanol.

And the main reason to favor ethanol over gasoline – to reduce carbon emissions so to help keep our planet cool – proves worse than empty. What’s required to grow and produce ethanol puts more carbon into the atmosphere than does producing and burning gasoline.

So why keep up the charade?

Well, ask Barack.

Senator Obama says he’s running to reduce the power of special interests. But, as the New York Times carefully parsed it, “like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that help shape his views.” Tom Daschle, co-chairman of Obama’s campaign, says Obama possesses “a terrific policy staff” . . . which seems united in advising him to push ethanol.

The fact that Obama represents a state filled with lots of people who directly benefit from pro-ethanol subsidies may also have something to do with his enthusiastic support.

Obama has given the standard “national security” reason for the policy, too – energy independence – but I won’t repeat his arguments. They make no sense. If Americans don’t buy Arab oil, Europe, China, and India will. Big deal. Trillions will still go to some bad guys.

And, uh, billions will go to Obama’s friends.

Change? No, politics as usual.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

The Muddle Men

There are two competing visions of the social hierarchy:

1. The Elitist View: The people are fools needing to be led by experts.

2. The Populist View: The people have common sense while their leaders are generally fools or knaves or both.

You can guess which one I tend to favor. But recently, I’ve seen some evidence suggesting a third position . . .

3. The “It’s All a Muddle” Theory: The people are prone to conspiracy theories and outrageous nonsense while their leaders fan the flames of folk paranoia just to get ahead.

This third view fits the current energy debate. Every time fuel prices rise, I get inundated with conspiracy theories and cockamamie economics. The current notion? That gas prices are rising because of speculators.

It doesn’t make much economic sense, and it flies in the face of good supply and demand reasons that everyone should know about. But a lot of people buy into the finger-pointing.

And so do our leaders. Senator Barack Obama has called for two departments of the federal government to investigate the influence of speculation on pricing. Senator John McCain has made similar – if less clear – rumblings on the same theme.

Just as the major presidential candidates talk about “change,” they strike the usual politician’s pose – as demagogues.

Look folks, we need middlemen, like futures traders. But we don’t need “muddle men,” like Obama and McCain.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Twelve Isn’t Enough?

If you know anything about term limits and political lifers, you know which one hates the other: Your typical politico disdains and reviles your typical term limit.

But it’s not just the typical term limit that politicians hate. It’s all term limits. In states with six-year or eight-year term limits, politicians often pretend to support the limits, saying they just want to tweak them . . . to get just a little more time.

But where state legislators do have more time, they don’t want to accept term limits either.

Take Nevada, where they are limited to a generous twelve-year stretch.

In Nevada, initiatives to amend the state constitution must be approved twice. Voters there passed twelve-year term limits on many officials, including lawmakers, in 1994 and again 1996. The amendment explicitly included the incumbents’ previous service. The law was retroactive. But the attorney general at the time opined that the law wasn’t retroactive, and incumbents got away with pretending it wasn’t.

That scam was bad enough. But now it’s 2008. And Nevada lawmakers and other incumbents are saying they should be allowed to run for re-election even if they’ve been in power for twelve straight years since 1996.

They’ve got some trumped-up technical excuse. But the bottom line is very familiar. They’re in power. They want to stay there. And to heck with the law . . . and the voters.

Sad, but true.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Doing the Right Thing, Eventually

Give Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal credit for doing the right thing sooner rather than later.

Jindal acted faster than, say, former Governor Gray Davis of California. In 2003, Davis tripled California’s car tax, provoking widespread anger. Finally, Davis agreed it should be repealed . . . but only after voters were about to recall him. Voters weren’t mollified, and Davis was duly ousted.

In Louisiana, the scam didn’t touch taxpayers’ wallets so directly. As symbolism, though, it bit painfully enough. Out of the blue, legislators more than doubled their salaries. The hike would have taken effect in the same session. Governor Jindal had promised to veto any such pay raise. But he flip-flopped. He claimed a veto would make it harder to work with lawmakers, harder to achieve necessary reforms.

Voters vociferously reminded the governor that lawmakers’ abuse of power is one of the things that needs reforming. Many demanded a recall. At first, Jindal stuck to his guns. Then he reversed his reversal and agreed to veto the pay hike. Many lawmakers also changed their minds about the raise.

The moral, I think, is that we citizens must remain engaged in public affairs even after the polls close. Otherwise, it’s too easy for even well-intentioned leaders to succumb to politics as usual. Too often, we elect a decent soul and then just go about our own lives – as he enters the lion’s den alone.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Who Gets to Get Guns?

Are all consequences of unconstitutional gun control created equal?

Suppose a town makes it tough or impossible for the average citizen to obtain firearms to protect himself. Does it follow that only the police there possess firearms?

Of course not. We all know that, somehow, persons willing to commit violent crimes for a living are also willing to bear arms – illegally. Despite gun control, both cops and robbers are totin’.

Who else exercises Second Amendment rights in the gun-free zones? Oh, people with special pull. The people who impose the gun control laws, the politicians themselves.

Chicago resident John Kass has penned an informative piece about this in the Chicago Tribune. Kass observes that in the windy city, where guns are banned, politicians often go around surrounded by armed bodyguards. Chicago taxpayers get to pay for these, of course.

Or the politicians carry arms themselves. One way they get around gun control is to use their connections to arrange for someone to make them deputized peace officers. These deputized politicians don’t actually run around fighting crime. It’s just a ruse.

But what about the honest Chicagoan who lives in a bad neighborhood? With no special connections to help him get around the gun ban? He can get thrown in jail if he’s discovered with a firearm.

There’s only one way to make this right. Shoot down gun control.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Parental Authority: Grounded

A daughter sues her father for grounding her. A court agrees that the punishment was too severe. The court overrules father, overturns punishment. What?

This is happening in Canada. So it’s not anything we in the States need worry about. Yet.

I didn’t quite believe this story at first. But it’s true. The unnamed 12-year-old was forbidden to go on a field trip because she disobeyed rules about her use of the Internet. She chatted on websites that her father had tried to block. And she posted pictures of herself that he regarded as inappropriate. He says this is simply her latest misconduct.

Justice Suzanne Tessier of the Quebec Superior Court acts as if grounding your child were tantamount to child abuse. And how dare Dad be concerned about online predators and such!

The lawyer for the father, Kim Beaudoin, says it’s the job of parents to set boundaries. Er, yes. Of course it’s the job of parents to raise their own children, not the state’s job. Or does Judge Tessier believe that a bureaucrat should be installed in every home, lugging a hefty manual stipulating exactly when a parent may send Timmy to his room?

Should a judge who would make such a ludicrous, totalitarian decision even be allowed to remain on the bench? At the very least, Tessier should be spanked. And no TV for the rest of the week.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

Too Much Trouble to Respect Rights?

We often lament the abuse of eminent domain power that occurs when the property of one private owner is forcibly transferred to another private owner.

But this doesn’t mean all grabbing of property for “public use” is honorable or sensible. Government officials too often mindlessly deploy their power, simply because they possess that power and can get away with abusing it.

And if the easiest way to get what they want also happens to show brutal contempt for the rights of their constituents? Hey, them’s the breaks, pal.

The editors of a Phoenix area newspaper, the East Valley Tribune, also oppose such arbitrary assault on the property and rights of others. In the town of Chandler, Arizona, Lloyds Complete Auto Supply must close its doors. Not because they can’t make money any more, but because Chandler officials want a new town hall. Aztec Wrought Irons in the same neighborhood is also on the government’s hit list.

There is no more urgent reason for the peremptory bulldozing of these businesses than the expiration of a ten-year lease in a private office building where many city officials have their offices. That’s the crisis. That’s the dire emergency.

The Tribune believes that instead of using tax dollars and police powers to “knock down decades of hard work,” Chandler officials should take the trouble to align their plans with those of property owners.

Yes. They should.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.