Category: local leaders

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local leaders national politics & policies

True Outsider Experience

John McCain’s choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate shocked a lot of people.

Even people in the media didn’t know very much about her. She hasn’t spent any time on Meet the Press, for example.

But I knew who she was long before her selection as Republican nominee for Vice President. That’s because Sarah Palin has real street cred as a reformer.

For starters, as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she followed through on her campaign promise to cut property taxes — by 40 percent.

Though a Republican, she has not hesitated to challenge Party bigwigs. She went after the state’s Republican Party chairman for ethics violations — violations he later admitted. She joined a Democrat in filing an ethics complaint against the Republican attorney general. He later resigned.

Then, in 2006, she ran against the incumbent governor of her own party, and by connection the whole corrupt GOP cabal in Alaska. And she won.

Today, Sarah Palin is the most popular governor in the country.

Of course, questions remain. Though she has taken on GOP leaders in her state, she has been friendlier to their pork projects than I like.

But while some belittle her experience, her readiness to be president, I say, think again: Twenty or 30 years of Washington experience disqualifies a candidate for the job.

Now, I don’t mean to speak ill of politicians … well, yes I do.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
local leaders property rights

The Redding Alternative

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that it is constitutionally okay for states and towns to grab property for pretty much any reason at all, citizens have been trying to prevent governments from doing so.

The track record is spotty. Officials and private interests who like to grab private property are aware of public outrage over the court’s decision. So they often support “protections” against eminent domain abuse with loopholes you could drive a truck through.

In a recent California election, two alleged property-​protection measures were on the ballot. Proposition 98 was the real deal. Proposition 99 was the fake. Unfortunately, the phony measure was the one that passed. It was the measure that had by far the most advertising, being bankrolled (you guessed it) by land-​grabbing special interests.

Friends of property rights can eventually try another ballot measure. Meanwhile, voters and elected officials in towns and counties can act independently to protect property owners, as the town council of Redding, California, has done. By a majority of three to two, the council voted to forbid officials from grabbing property just to flip it to another private owner.

Redding Councilman Ken Murray, who proposed the new law, says he wanted “to make it really hard for some future councilperson to willy-​nilly take property from one person and give it to another just to jack up our revenue.”

Great move! Let’s hope it works.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
local leaders

Look Homeward, Voter

Hillary is up; Barack is down. Or is that vice versa? Mike is up; Rudy’s down.

Many presidential campaigns have their ups and downs, until only one remains “up.”

But the real story is: you are up.

It’s now your turn. Vote!

But as sly economists and clever mathematicians like to remind us, no one voter usually makes a difference. Our votes may be counted (if we’re lucky), but they don’t count — not like our dollars do. We voters don’t decide elections, individually. Certainly not presidential elections, which are designed to tally up preferences from huge pools of voters; it’s the ratio of the divergent streams of those pools that decide elections. Our individual votes are like drops in the bucket.

But, closer to home, our power — even as individuals — increases.

There are fewer voters, locally, so when we convince a friend or neighbor of the wisdom of X, or the justice of Y, or the pure thrilling statesmanship of Z, our influence can really amount to something.

So, if you are concerned with, say, the growing instability of our non-​invested national pension system (Social Security), keep tabs on the issue, keep asking questions, keep needling the complacent. But don’t stop there. Look closer to home. Have your county, city, or state politicians enacted non-​invested or even unfunded pension systems?

They have in many areas around the country. And citizens have fought back. They’ve made a difference.

You can, too.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.