On Nov. 21, 1911, British suffragettes stormed Parliament in London. Two hundred and twenty women and three men were arrested and received prison sentences.
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The true character of liberty is independence, maintained by force.
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Patrick Henry
“Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men without a consequent loss of liberty! I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt.”
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New Jersey Bill of Rights
On Nov. 20 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. New Jersey’s action was followed by the other states making the first 10 amendments to the Constitution the law of the land and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence.
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Video: You’re not the boss of me
The first in a series, “Common Sense Principles”:
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Gettysburg Adress
On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a 272 word speech to dedicate a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His “Gettysburg Address” ended with the hopeful appeal “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
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Thurgood Marshall
“Classifications and distinctions based on race or color have no moral or legal validity in our society.”
Incentives work. Because people are self-interested.
Even the seemingly altruistic protagonist played by Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams exclaims, “I haven’t once asked what’s in it for me,” only to then ask, “What’s in it for me?”
That line comes to mind when I hear politicians and business folks talk about private-public partnerships, from subsidies for ethanol to billions in government loans to supposedly spur “green” technology.
The bankruptcy of the solar panel maker Solyndra cost taxpayers more than half a billion dollars. But it’s not merely that government is less than stellar at picking investment winners; it’s that the interests of politicians and businesspeople aren’t “the public interest.”
Never will be.
Sure, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Congress yesterday, “I did not make any decision based on political considerations.” But internal company emails feature complaints about pressure from the Obama Administration to delay announcing layoffs until after the 2010 elections.
Whose interest did that serve?
Documents also uncover Solyndra executives hiding bad news the better to win additional federal funds and, alternatively, threatening that the company was about to go under hoping the potential bad press for Obama might shake down additional bucks.
Companies have an interest in the big money the federal government dangles before them. Politicians have an interest in appearing to be economic wizards creating jobs and spurring a new world with bright green hues.
Neither incentive promotes sound business behavior nor equates with the public interest.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Spain 1976
On Nov. 18, 1976, Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.
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Sir Ernest Benn
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”