Category: general freedom

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general freedom

The Losingest Winner

Can you win too much?

Not if the job is worth doing or the game is worth playing to begin with, and is done honorably and well.

Consider the case of Micah Grimes, the coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100 to zero. Covenant School recently fired Coach Grimes for failing to apologize for the massive margin of victory. Covenant School had posted a message on its website expressing regrets over the lopsided scale of the triumph, calling it “shameful and an embarrassment.”

Now, nobody is claiming the Covenant girls smashed the kneecaps of the Dallas Academy girls. The Academy players have a very long losing streak under the belts, and didn’t seem all that traumatized by their huge loss when interviewed about it on ABC News. In fact, they showed some pluck and eagerness to keep improving their game to try to improve their chances. As losers go, they have a winning attitude.

Coach Grimes, on the hand, lost … his job. He stated publicly that his values would not allow him “to apologize for a wide-​margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.” Shortly afterward, Covenant School fired him.

The school did wrong. Coach Grimes did right to exhibit that integrity. There isn’t any rule in any sport that says the team that is winning must stop trying to win.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
general freedom too much government

Fake Grit

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Or maybe not: I prefer it when “cooler heads prevail.”

But as our times get desperate, here comes Tony Blankley with a new book, True Grit.

Blankley calls for a universal draft that would delay college or work for your 18- or 19-​year-​old boy or girl, forcibly placing them under government control. Under Blankley’s plan the military would get first dibs, but those not forced into military service would be corralled into civilian government service.

This is, well, stupid. One of the federal government’s few big successes has been the all-​volunteer military. Forcing people, not suited or interested, into armed service may seem egalitarian, but it undermines the military, which ought to concentrate on winning wars.

Moreover, to force millions more into government make-​work programs, again in the name of fairness, will cost taxpayers plenty — and uproot the lives of young people.

Charlie Rangel has been the most persistent conscription pusher. His draft legislation proved so overwhelmingly unpopular that when it was brought up in Congress even he voted against it.

In a review of True Grit at Human Events, Blankley is described as progressing politically from being a libertarian to a conservative to a nationalist.

Sorry, that’s not progress.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
First Amendment rights general freedom local leaders

Annoyed by Anti-​Annoyance Law

I’m annoyed by a new law passed in the Michigan town of Brighton City.

According to the ordinance, police may fine anyone who is too annoying in public. Up to $500. The ordinance states: “It shall be unlawful for a person to engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commit acts that alarm or seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose.”

Obviously, many different things annoy many different people, most having little to do with the possible or actual commission of a crime.

If you and I are annoyed, think about how annoyed the folks are who actually live there. One resident, Charles Griffin, told ABC News that the new law is “the most ridiculous thing in the world.”

Area resident Chetly Zarko has written to the council asking them to repeal the law, arguing that it is “unconstitutionally vague … and impedes on free expression rights under the First Amendment.”

Council members say critics are blowing things out of proportion. They say people aren’t going to be ticketed for talking too loud or making complaints to public officials, but for things like persistent harassment of an ex-​girlfriend or the like.

But words mean what they say, don’t they? They don’t mean what they would have meant if only you had said what you meant.

In the spirit of being careful with words, let me revise my opening statement: I am more than merely annoyed.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
free trade & free markets general freedom national politics & policies

The Freedom to Opt Out

A new administration is poised to take over, with medical care a high priority. There’s been lots of talk, lots of trust put on big government. Unfortunately, the doctors, hospitals, insurers and others that opposed HillaryCare, way back when, now jockey to get whatever benefits they can out of whatever new system that develops … which, jumping the gun, they consider a “done deal.”

And yet the simplest, most sensible bit of legislation about health care garners almost no attention.

Introduced by Representative Sam Johnson several months ago, the Medicare Beneficiary Freedom to Choose Act would allow seniors who go on Social Security to opt out of Medicare.

At present, when you retire with Social Security benefits, you are required — forced — to accept Medicare part A benefits. Doctors whom you hire for cash can be penalized.

Quite a system.

You might think anyone who’s for freedom of choice would support the bill.

You might think it uncontroversial, since it simply allows people who have saved money for their own medical care to continue to use that money.

It doesn’t affect anybody negatively. It doesn’t reduce Medicare taxes that anyone is forced to pay. It simply lets people who want to opt out of a bureaucratic system do just that.

And it would save the government money.

Oh, maybe now I get it. The name of the game is money, spending, and … regulation of our lives.

“Congress knows best.”

That is the very antithesis of Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Common Sense general freedom national politics & policies too much government

Santa Speaks Out

Oh, sure, he’s a jolly old elf most of the time. But just ask Mrs. Claus: He’s got a temper.

Not long ago, I compared Congress to Santa Claus, because both hand out lots of goodies. Well, Santa was not amused.

“How in the name of the North Pole can you compare me with the politicians in Congress?” he wanted to know. “My elves and I produce our presents ourselves and we make a list so they go to the nice people. The Congress takes from others and often gives the loot to folks who are naughty.”

He’s got a point. And who wants to argue with Santa this time of year? Then there was the flap in Kensington, Maryland, where the long tradition of Santa lighting the town tree was ended after complaints from families who don’t celebrate Christmas.

Santa called and I was ready for an earful. But Santa wasn’t mad at the families who complained or the town officials. “Christmas is my holiday,” Santa said calmly, “and I’ll not let anyone turn it into something that’s forced on people. That’s not my style. I don’t want anyone forced to pay taxes against their will to celebrate Christmas. And that’s what’s been going on in this little town.

“I don’t need any government mandates; after all, hundreds of people in Santa suits brought their own holiday cheer to the Kensington tree lighting. The spirit of Christmas is something you give, not something you take. Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
general freedom

Blogging Now Illegal?

Has political blogging been outlawed in Italy? Maybe. A disturbing precedent has been laid down, at any rate.

Back in May of 2008, a Sicilian judge determined that historian and blogger Carlo Ruto was guilty of publishing a “clandestine newspaper,” which it turns out is illegal.

How did Ruto’s blog achieve the status of a “clandestine newspaper”? It wasn’t properly registered with the authorities. Also, it had a headline. If your blog entry has a headline, it’s a newspaper, the judge ruled.

The penalty is 250 Euros or up to two years in prison. Ruto was spared imprisonment but fined and ordered to take down the site, which he did. This all goes back to a 1948 law requiring registration of newspapers. Which in 2001 was deviously modified to include websites.

Ruto was targeted for being critical of connections between the Italian government and the mafia. Maybe his case is the exception. But recently, a well-​known Italian politician, Giuseppe Giulietti, said that almost the entire contents of the Italian Internet “could be considered illegal.” Bloggers are up in arms, as well they should be.

Sounds incredible. But bloggers in the U.S. have been threatened with similar sledgehammers, in the form of campaign finance regulation. 

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.