The debt limit is in the news again, so this satire, from a few months back, remains timely:
Categories
John Adams
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”
Categories
2nd Treaty of Paris ends revolutionary war
On Jan. 14, 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Second Treaty of Paris, thus bringing the Revolutionary War to an official end. In the treaty, known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain officially agreed to recognize the independence of its 13 former colonies as the new United States of America.
Categories
Kurt Cobain
“I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not.”
Categories
Oglethorpe lands in SC
On Jan. 13, 1733, James Oglethorpe and 130 colonists arrived in what is today Charleston, South Carolina. Oglethorpe was a British general, member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founded of the colony of Georgia. As a social reformer, Oglethorpe hoped to resettle Britain’s poor, especially those in debtors’ prisons, in the New World.
Categories
Term Limits’ Mysterious Impact
Dr. David Valentine seems surprised by what he calls “The Unintended Consequences of Term Limits.” Valentine, a tenured expert on legislative matters, served as director of the Missouri Senate’s Division of Research from 1985 to 2001 and is now Associate Director for Public Service at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. According to his research, limiting the terms of Missouri legislators has led to — of all things — legislators serving less time in office.
Who’d have guessed?
“Over the course of ten years,” Valentine’s report found, “the average tenure for Missouri House Representatives dropped by almost two-thirds, from a little over five years to two years.” The average tenure for a state senator dropped from nine years to three.
So, the good Doctor has diagnosed the legislature as less knowledgeable due to term limits: “Tenure can be viewed as a surrogate for knowledge,” Valentine explains, “about state government, the legislative process and the chamber in which members serve.”
In layman’s terms, representatives are serving less time, and thus they know less . . . about the legislature. No evidence or tests necessary; take it as a given.
But could some other knowledge be of import to legislating, to governing? Like the knowledge of running a business and how laws and regulations impact business? Or could teaching experience provide insight into education policy? Or working in health care or agriculture or . . . well, you get the point.
But Dr. Valentine doesn’t. He’s still overcoming his shock that limiting tenure produces less tenure.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
A recent study using something called “gravitational microlensing” suggests that every star has at least one planet. There are a lot of planets out there. So there “must” be Earth-similar planets. And “therefore” life. Intelligent life. And, and, and . . .
Back on Earth, the search for intelligence amongst the Republican presidential candidates (not to mention the Democratic incumbent) is a more haphazard affair. We lack that crucial microlensing.
Yesterday I noted a peculiar alignment: Ron Paul defending Mitt Romney, with the other Republican wannabes piling against Romney in a disgraceful showing of anti-capitalism. Rep. Paul defended Romney not out of Republican loyalty, but out of principle. Does this suggest an affinity between the two, heretofore unnoticed?
Maybe. On the face of it, Romney doesn’t seem all that dissimilar from Barack Obama – not in foreign policy, surely not in big government instincts (the purveyors of unconstitutional medical regulations, each) — but his work in business does suggest that Romney might be an improvement on Obama, if elected. Marginally moving towards Paul’s apogee.
But the country needs more than just a marginal improvement, right now. Another centrist — even one who understands the social utility of the hostile takeover — won’t balance budgets. Not when the Washington orbit remains retrograde, unable to stop spending and borrowing like tomorrow is somebody else’s problem.
Which is why Ron Paul’s candidacy will retain traction for many primaries to come. Since our problems are the mainstream, Paul fills the need for something extra-mainstream — and, to normal political folks, that will undoubtedly seem “extra-terrestrial.”
In Washington, all intelligent life lies beyond the usual orbits.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Categories
Ford sets land-speed record
On Jan. 12, 1904, Henry Ford set a land-speed record of 91.37 mph on the frozen surface of Lake St. Clair in Michigan, driving a four-wheel vehicle, dubbed the “999,” with a wooden chassis but no body or hood. Ford’s record was broken within a month, but the publicity from Ford’s achievement was valuable to the auto pioneer, who had incorporated the Ford Motor Company the previous year.
Categories
Henry Ford
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
After winning the New Hampshire primary last night, Mitt Romney charged that “some desperate Republicans” have joined forces with President Obama “to put free enterprise on trial.”
Newt Gingrich calls Romney a “vulture capitalist” and blasted his work as CEO of Bain Capital as “bankrupting companies and laying off employees.” Rick Perry snidely attacked Mitt for “all the jobs that he killed,” adding “I’m sure he was worried he would run out of pink slips.”
A Wall Street Journal report quoted Jon Huntsman: “What is clear is [Mr. Romney] likes firing people.”
So, did Romney say “I like being able to fire people”? What he said was, “I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”
I, too, like being able to fire companies who don’t adequately supply the services I demand.
Yet, what about Romney’s work at Bain Capital?
Bain Capital took firms having trouble making a profit and attempted to make them more profitable. Sometimes that meant cutting back the work force to avoid bankruptcy, where everyone would lose their jobs. Sometimes it meant cutting up a company and its assets and selling them to entrepreneurs who could do better.
Not all businesses succeed. No surprise, then, that politicians used to spending a seemingly unlimited supply of other people’s money regardless of performance fail to understand this simple reality.
To his credit, Ron Paul defended Romney, saying of Gingrich, Huntsman and Perry, “I think they’re wrong. They are either just demagoguing or they don’t have the vaguest idea how the market works.”
Or both.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.