Category: Common Sense

Whenever a new president takes the oath of office, we pay homage to the transition of power itself.

In his inaugural address, President Bush noted that “the peaceful transfer of power is rare in history, but common in our country.” He is right. While democratic forms have penetrated to every corner of the globe, sometimes the substance is a little lacking. But even our own democratic legacy can benefit from an occasional repair job.

For our own sake and for that of citizens around the world, we must keep our democracy strong. To do this, we rely on the good will of the people who lead us. We also rely on the checks and balances of our political institutions, which help ensure that no one branch of government and no single person can ever hold a monopoly on power.

We fought a revolution to get rid of a king. We don’t need another king. The Founders did not formally provide for term limits, instead placing their trust in the honor of those who would serve. For many years, their trust seemed justified: until Franklin Roosevelt, no president stood for office more than twice. But even many who had supported a wartime president for a fourth term saw the wisdom of making presidential term limits formal and official. And so, on February 27, 1951, the country ratified a constitutional amendment term limiting the presidency.

This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of that amendment the 50th anniversary of a renewed and strengthened commitment to democracy.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Okay, I’ll come clean. I’m no fan of taxes to begin with. I hope that doesn’t make me sound too un-American. But as I see it, if taxes are going to be imposed, that’s a job for representatives, for legislators.

Remember that old line about “no taxation without representation”? Well, there’s a sister phrase that goes, “no taxation through judicial usurpation.” The courts are supposed to interpret the law and rule on the law, not make the law from scratch. They have no legal authority to be slapping new taxes on us. Yet more and more, that’s what is happening. For example, in Rockford, Illinois, the courts ordered more spending on schools than the voters had approved through various referendums. In New York City, courts ordered mandatory shelter for the homeless. The lawyer who brought the case was asked why he sued in court, instead of taking his case to the legislature. This guy admits, “Personally, I don’t like politics.” He says, “It’s really hard.” Yeah, it’s a lot easier to pass laws in a dictatorship. You only have to convince one guy. The examples could be multiplied.

Where are our representatives while all this is happening? Well, if they weren’t so gutless, they’d protest this kind of judicial dictatorship. But they’re so worried about getting reelected that it’s actually in their “interest” narrow political interest, anyway to let the courts make many of the tough decisions. So we’re without real representation, and we suffer, and our democracy suffers.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

We hire representatives to represent us. That’s their job, right?Well, these days we’re not getting the real deal. For a lot of reasons. One is that strings are being pulled from behind the scenes by folks we never voted for at all: congressional staffers.

You see, career politicians are typically absentee landlords. The dirty work of drafting legislation, even deciding its substance, falls to staffers, the so-called “hill rats.” That can cause trouble. In one case, hill rats added a prohibition to a Justice Department budget against transferring personnel. The small reason was to save the jobs of a couple men running a small FBI office in Montana. But because of that trivial manipulation, the Justice Department was stopped from reorganizing its entire force on organized crime.

Once in a while there’s an uproar about this kind of thing, but usually the rats just get away with it. Former Congressman Mark Sanford was one legislator who worked to stem the tide of out-of-control staffs. Sanford, who voluntarily limited his terms in office, voted to cut committee staffs and voluntarily reduced his own office staff. But until the career politicians have an incentive to do more than just gear up for the next election, Sanford’s example will be a lonely one.

The job of representation should not one be palmed off on courts, regulatory agencies, or unelected staff. Legislators should make the laws, but too many are too busy pursuing their political careers.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Let’s say Bad Bart challenges you to a gunfight at the OK Corral. If you beat him you get a chance to clean up the town.

Just one problem. “You get only one bullet in your revolver,” growls bad Bart. “But I get six.” Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?

But six-to-one is better odds than most political challengers enjoy against congressional incumbents.

Incumbents have all sorts of extra ammo, advantages which they voted for themselves and which you pay for. Special interests know which side their bread is buttered on, so most of their cash is showered on the incumbent. Guess who passed the campaign laws that make it tough for challengers to match that fundraising? Yep. Incumbents.

Then there’s taxpayer-funded advertising, like public service ads. Taxpayer-funded recording studios. Taxpayer-funded mail touting the incumbent’s latest pork barrel “accomplishment.” Taxpayer-funded constituent service. Taxpayer-funded travel. Even taxpayer-funded web sites.

All this turf is jealously guarded by those in power. In 1996, the FEC wouldn’t even let CompuServe give free web sites to all candidates for office. That would be an “in-kind” contribution prohibited under law. But taxpayer-funded web sites for incumbents are A-OK.

Why do incumbents stack the deck in their favor in the first place? Well, just like Bad Bart, they like to win. Fair or unfair. Now career politicians say they’re going to even the playing field with campaign finance reform. Yeah, right.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Oh, that crazy federal government! It just keeps growing and growing and growing! What to do?

Well, every new session of Congress, the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, issues another edition of their Cato Handbook. The Handbook invites our representatives to take a look at what they’re doing and how they might do it better. The handbook is fatter than ever this time around. Cato says it’s because the government is fatter than ever.

Ed Crane, Cato’s president, says, “Washington now controls a $2 trillion budget, most of which it redistributes to buy votes, ‘reform’ problems it created, and keep the incumbents of both political parties in power.”

I am happy to report that, in addition to all its other fine proposals to fix things, the Handbook makes a solid case for term limits. After all, term limits would help increase the number of citizen legislators who give the other reforms a fair chance.

The Handbook surveys the successes in the 19 term-limited statehouses around the country and invites legislators in our nation’s capital to limit their terms voluntarily. It reports that it’s the self-limiters in Congress like Matt Salmon of Arizona and Mark Sanford of South Carolina who have proven the most willing to resist the culture of spending in DC.

Want to read all about it? Just visit the Cato website at cato.org. The entire volume is online. And be sure to tell your congressman to start reforming that crazy federal government of ours.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

One reason most Americans support term limits for members of Congress is that we see how the power of public office changes people. Not just political hacks, but thoughtful and dedicated people, too.

Now we have another example in Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. Wellstone is known as a liberal Democrat. But in Minnesota the two major parties are relatively competitive and the governor is independent Jesse Ventura. So Wellstone’s reputation as an idealistic college professor who cares more about helping the little guy than a political career was key to his defeating a powerful incumbent and winning two terms in the Senate. And he said two terms would be all. That’s what Wellstone pledged to voters in 1990 and again in 1996: two terms and then he’d come home. Now he’s changed his mind.

Once again we see firsthand that good people can go to Washington and get co-opted. And when it comes to breaking one’s word, true bipartisanship reigns. Republican House member Ron Lewis of Kentucky announced he is breaking his word to step down after eight years in office. Lewis isn’t a teacher like Wellstone, but rather a Baptist preacher.

If idealistic teachers and idealistic preachers can be corrupted by power, how can we expect the average politician to stay the course? That’s why we need term limits.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Remember that line on your tax return that asks you whether you want to donate any of your taxes to the cause of giving face time to pious incumbent politicians?

Oh, don’t remember that line?

Well, the folks in power are helping themselves to your tax dollars to help themselves politically . . . whether you approve or not. Leave it to John Stossel to point out what seems to slip right past the radar screens of most of his colleagues.

In a recent installment of his “Give Me a Break” segment, which airs Fridays on “20/20,” Stossel reports on the avalanche of anemic public service announcements starring incumbents across the land. For example, former Arizona governor Fyfe Symington appeared in a public service announcement reminding citizens to “avoid the sun from 10 to 4.”

Then there’s New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, who tells viewers that “summers in New Jersey are full of surprises.”

Ohio Governor Bob Taft reminisces about how “My family and I have many beautiful memories of Ohio state parks.” Thanks Bob.

Perhaps the most prolific public service self-advertiser is New York Governor George Pataki, who is eager to tell you that “New York lakes are full of life.” Oh, pack it in, Pataki!

Needless to say, all this taxpayer-funded self-promoting advertising can’t hurt come election time. The politicians say the ads “serve the public.”

Says John Stossel: “Come on! They’re using your money to serve themselves. Give me a break.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Pardon me; I thought I’d said enough about former President Bill Clinton. But his use of the presidential pardon power is in many cases just wrong — pardoning people merely on the basis of political connections and large campaign contributions.

“The quality of mercy is not strained,” Shakespeare tells us, but Mr. Clinton strains and reaches and contorts. As an attorney for several of those pardoned said, “You had to be on the inside.” Some even speculate that had the scandal-ridden Clinton not been able to cut a deal with the independent prosecutor on his last day in office, he might even have pardoned himself.

Why does that not seem far-fetched? The whole disgusting spectacle has led some to say we should end the presidential pardon altogether.

I disagree, and say to our new president: Use the pardon. But not as a sneaky means of bailing out cronies and contributors and the connected.

President Bush, use it to help the victims of injustice. Our justice system is the best on the globe, but every day it makes mistakes. And there are cases where a crime has been committed but the punishment meted out isn’t serving anyone.

Mr. President, use the presidential pardon in a way that will show us what is in your heart, not just who is “on the inside” of your Administration. Let the quality of mercy be not strained. And let it be guided by justice.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

When it comes to elections, the local career politicians in New York City and Washington, D.C. would no doubt tell you that “every vote should count.”

But if they told you that’s the way they personally try to govern in their cities, they’d be flat-out lying.

Instead, when it comes to their own political careers, these politicians are eager to trash the voters’ clear desire for term limits. The voters of New York City passed term limits for their mayor, city council and borough officials in 1993. There was no scandal that drove support for limits it was just good public policy, a way to open the political process to new people and keep current politicians a little closer to their communities.

In 1996, New York City politicians put a measure before the voters to lengthen term limits and delay them from going into effect. The voters said NO loud and clear.

Now these same politicians think they have found a legal loophole to repeal the limits without having to let the voters have a say on the matter. They are threatening a repeal as I speak.

In 1994, Washington, D.C. voters passed term limits by nearly two to one it won in every single ward of the city. Now as those limits are about to go into effect, the D.C. City Council is talking about repealing the people’s term limits law.

A Washington Post editorial urged the politicians to ignore the people on the issue and gut term limits. Seems that some folks think every vote should count only if and when that vote is for them.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Come on, boys and girls, your country needs you. 2002 is right around the corner. If you’re going to run for office as a Citizen Legislator, you’d better start planning NOW.

You’ve probably never thought about running for office. There are good men and women in all walks of life who feel they could make a valuable contribution as a legislator, but who never throw their hat in the ring. Why? Well, for one thing, you may not have any electoral opportunity to do so. The incumbent may have a lock on your district. But the other thing is this.

Regular citizens have little desire to hang around the old boys club for the amount of time it typically takes to have an influence. True, the experience in 19 state legislatures around the country shows how much more quickly new legislators can jump into action when everyone’s terms are limited. But if you want to serve in the U.S. Congress, the feeling is you’ll have to be there for quite a number of years before you can begin to make a dent.

Fortunately, Citizen Legislators like Congressman Matt Salmon, Tom Coburn and Mark Sanford have shown that this isn’t quite true. Even in an encrusted institution like the U.S. Congress, you can still rock the boat as a self-limited congressman, in just three terms or less. And if you get enough people rocking the boat, eventually you’re going to be able to steer a new course altogether. So what are you waiting for? Time’s a-wasting. Order the campaign buttons now!

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.