Author: Redactor

You may have seen the article in your local newspaper, unless of course you’ve been too busy to read the paper because you’ve been rummaging through old receipts and struggling with various tax equations in order to get your federal income taxes filed. Well, the message from Congress on paying your taxes may be “Why bother?”

You see, the IRS just reported that members of Congress and their staffs owe about $10.5 million dollars in unpaid taxes, “one of the highest rates of delinquency in the federal government” and higher than that of the general public.

I guess they can’t say they gave at the office. You’d think that since members of Congress get to spend all the money, they’d be more willing than the average citizen to pay their share. But apparently no.

I’m troubled, but I’m also sympathetic. You know, the tax bite is huge. Federal income taxes alone are monstrous. But add those state and local taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, the tax on this and the tax on that, and the total bill is tough for anybody to pay. How come we gotta pay all those taxes? Oh, a little thing called “unbridled spending” by greedy career politicians in collusion with greedy special interests.

We have met the enemy and it’s the career politicians in Washington. It is a shame that politicians in Congress must be burdened with so much tax debt. But don’t worry about them. The next time they want to spend more money on some program, they’ll just get it from you.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The NCAA tournament known as “March Madness” excites millions of fans. Every year the competition is fierce and produces at least a few stunning upsets. The University of North Carolina had one of its worst records in memory. Yet they beat the number one seed in their region and advanced to the Final Four. It just goes to show that you don’t know for sure how a contest will end until you play the game. That’s why they do play the game instead of asking a bunch of self-​proclaimed experts to pick the winner in advance.

There’s a lesson here for our political system. People have been arguing about whether the independent or third party candidates should be allowed in the presidential debates. The supposedly non-​partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which incidentally is chaired by former Republican and Democratic Party chairmen, says that only candidates who poll 15 percent support will be invited to participate.

Hold on. Most Americans don’t even think about the candidates until the debates. So it doesn’t make sense to first arbitrarily decide who’s going to win and then disqualify those players that the pundits say can’t win. Of course they can’t win if they don’t even get a shot at the title! In 1992, Ross Perot had less than 10 percent support before the debates. But on Election Day he captured 19 percent.

The Demo-​publican power brokers want to kill off political competition. Let’s hope they never get interested in basketball.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Recently President Clinton begged the wealthier countries of the world to provide help to the poorer countries, so that they too could expand their economies and improve the lives of the people.

Now that sounds like a nice charitable sentiment until you think about how the good ole US of A grew from a poor nation into the wealthiest people in the history of the world. We did not become rich because of charity from Great Britain or France. Our ancestors built this country with their bare hands, and their dreams. We had what so many countries did not have: freedom.

If you want a country to be rich, encourage it to be free. Of course, a lesson in free-​market economics is probably not a lesson your typical dictator wants to hear. They’d rather have the handouts. The kind that are easy to divert to Swiss bank accounts.

Al Gore shares this same welfare mentality when he calls Internet access “a fundamental right.” Thanks Big Al, but in a free country we’re getting on line just fine on our own. The people who started this country embraced freedom and individual responsibility.

As James Madison said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.… [but] upon the capacity of mankind for self-​government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves …”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Tim Johnson’s recent victory in Illinois’ Republican primary for Congress didn’t get much notice outside of the Washington Beltway, but it’s important.

Johnson overcame the congressional establishment and hereditary succession by convincing voters he was not just another politician. Too often our next congressman moves back from Washington to run for office. Or goes to Washington to get the blessing and funding of the DC crowd in order to run. Where does that leave the voters of the district? Do we get to choose only after the power elite in Washington make their choice?

House Speaker Dennis Hastert picked his candidate for Illinois’ 15th congressional district State Rep. Bill Brady. He put the enormous power of his congressional office behind Brady. The other candidate against Tim Johnson was Sam Ewing, son of the current congressman Tom Ewing. It’s not rare for congressional seats to go from father to son, but it reminds me of the days when political power followed family bloodlines from king to prince.

Tim Johnson is different. He seeks to represent his district, not join the Washington club. He pledged to return home after three terms, while the others wanted a career in Congress. Said Johnson, “The seniority system in Congress hurts all of us because it rewards those who put their own reelection concerns above all else. I will enter Congress knowing full well the date upon which I will leave. I will focus entirely on the good of my district and my country.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Tell you what. Let’s have the kind of politics in which you support the candidate you actually believe in.

Is electability important? Sure it is. But it’s not an end in itself. Yet too often, folks who crave a seat at the table sacrifice principles to politics. They throw all their weight behind one guy Mr. Electable and throw everyone else to the wolves.

The Democratic primaries were pretty discouraging. Despite all the baggage that comes with Al Gore, most potential contenders bowed out of that contest. Why? Because Gore is an incumbent vice president.

Take the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, for example. Also known as NARAL. What does it tell us when NARAL endorses Al Gore over the only major alternative candidate, Bill Bradley…even though Bradley is the more consistent supporter of their issue? Bradley gets a 99 percent rating from the group, and Gore clocks in at only 61 percent. But NARAL was betting their chips, not promoting their principles.

We’ve seen too much of the same blind calculus in the Republican primaries. A lot of folks who might have preferred McCain, Forbes or Keyes went with the anointed front-​runner instead. They made a political calculation, based on the fact that all the support of the Republican establishment was being funneled to one guy, George W. Bush.

Something is wrong in a political system when expediency wins out over principles, as a matter of routine. It’s time for a change.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Last summer gas got down to 59 cents a gallon. Today we’re paying a buck-fifty.

Now come the politicians to save the day. Low gasoline prices are nearly a constitutional right, they tell us, and they’ll fix everything. Uh oh. The idea of politicians swooping in to save us is scarier than high oil prices. Am I the only guy who remembers the long gas lines of the 1970s, caused by price controls of the politicians?

Of course, one thing the gang in Washington could do is get rid of the gas tax. There’s a direct 18.4‑cent federal tax on every gallon. The latest gas tax increase of 4.3 cents is called the “Gore Gas Tax” by the Republicans. You see, Vice President Al Gore broke a tie in the Senate to pass the increase.

So are Republicans rushing to repeal this tax they’ve long been complaining about? No sir. Long-​serving incumbent Republicans now argue that we can’t possibly repeal the tax. It would mean the end of the world as we know it, obstructed highways, roads that lead to nowhere, blah blah blah. At least, that’s what the pork-​barrel king and Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Schuster says.

Once again Republican incumbents attack Democrats on taxes, but it’s just lip service. They want to spend our tax money just as much as Mr. Gore does. Even with their big surpluses, we’re going to hear a whole lot of hot air from politicians about why they won’t give us back even one lousy cent of our own money.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.