Common Sense with Paul Jacob

We get taxed so much while we’re living, it seems kind of overkill to tax folks when they die. To me, dying is bad enough already.

And now Terence Jeffrey, editor of Human Events , gives us another reason to oppose the death tax: it’s murdering the First Amendment.

Nearly half of the nation’s family-owned newspapers have been lost in the last few decades. These independent papers are being gobbled up by corporate media behemoths like Gannett and the Tribune Company, and the result is fewer independent voices in the media.

One reason these family-owned papers are disappearing is clear: the high death taxes simply can’t be paid without selling the business. That’s not right. A person who works hard to build a business does not deserve to have that business destroyed.

The government disagrees. Jeffrey points to a former IRS commissioner, who says, “. . . the owners of these things don’t look objectively at the world. I own it, I want to pass it on to my son, why should my son have to pay an estate tax to get it? [The owner] looks at it as his possession. The IRS, however, views those taxes as a means for some equalization of wealth nationwide.”

Two philosophies here. One says individuals should be free to gain from their hard work; the other says government should grab it away so we can all be squashed down to the same low level. For richer, for poorer, till death do us part. And part . . . and part . . . and part . . . .

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

While Rep. Tom Coburn hasn’t faced much competition in his two re-election campaigns, this year is very different mainly because Tom Coburn isn’t running for re-election.

During his first campaign for office, Dr. Coburn pledged to serve no more than three terms in Congress. And he’s keeping his word. When asked about politicians who break their commitments, Coburn says plainly, “I don’t want to be associated with people who tell the American people one thing and then do another.”

This year finds a crowd of seven Republicans vying for the seat opened up by Coburn. Most admit they wouldn’t be running except for Coburn’s retirement. But one candidate, Steve Money, says that Coburn shouldn’t be leaving, that his departure allows someone “less able and less effective” to go to Congress.

Steve Money claims great admiration for Coburn, but he ignores Coburn’s number one strength. The longer you stay in Washington, according to Tom Coburn, the further you get away from the views of the folks back home “One of the reasons I’ve been such a pain in the neck up [in Washington] is because I knew I was leaving.”

Rep. Tom Coburn is arguably the best member of Congress. He’s courageous in taking on special interests and even his own party. He guards our tax dollars. All because he’s not a politician. And he hopes his replacement is not a politician either.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Should you lose your job for celebrating the lives and courage of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Jeff Jacoby did.

On July 14th he was suspended without pay for writing a column about the fate of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Why? Can’t the liberal Boston Globe tolerate a conservative celebrating those who fought for our freedom?

The Globe claims that because Jacoby failed to mention that others have covered this topic before, he committed a breach of journalistic ethics.

Yep, Jeff Jacoby is not the first person to celebrate the willingness of the Founders to lay their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line. So hang him.

Political columnists of every ideological stripe tend to revisit the same themes over and over again. They’ve all still got their jobs, God bless ’em. Rush Limbaugh, Paul Harvey and yours truly are among the many who have written about the noble sacrifices of the men who signed the Declaration.

Jacoby points out that one bibliography on the subject shows works dating back to 1820. Even the Boston Globe agrees that Jacoby used his own words and his own research to write the piece. So what’s going on? Why is the good name of Jeff Jacoby being pointlessly poisoned? I have no idea. Nor do journalistic watchdogs from across the political spectrum. Why don’t you call the Boston Globe and ask them?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

His political consultants if he had any would say he’s crazy. But he’s my kind of crazy.

Gary Morsch is a candidate for Congress, a serious one. He’s running in a competitive three-way Republican primary in Kansas’s 3rd district. But in the closing days of the primary, Morsch won’t be doing any campaigning at all.

No, instead he’ll be training with his National Guard Unit in Missouri. His Surgical Hospital Unit has been placed on alert for possible deployment in Kosovo later this year.

Dr. Morsch probably could have gotten out of the duty. There’s a process to request an exemption. But said Morsch, “That doesn’t fit my philosophy, which says I shouldn’t get special treatment because I’m running for office.”

Morsch is not the usual politician. In fact, he’s no politician at all. He’s a medical doctor who founded Heart to Heart, an international relief agency that has provided over $160 million dollars of medical supplies to those in need across the globe. His goal is to be a citizen legislator, not a career politician. That’s why he took the Term Limits Pledge limiting himself to 3 terms in Congress.

He does what’s right, not what’s politically expedient. Leaving the campaign trail at such a crucial juncture may mean that Morsch loses in his bid for Congress. But I can’t help thinking that by keeping his commitment to our country, Dr. Morsch has already won. And his victory is one we can all celebrate.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

What good would it do if our inalienable rights, you know “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” were only valid on the Moon?

Our freedoms wouldn’t have much practical effect and of course, that’s how some powerful folks might prefer it. While we have the right to petition our government, increasingly we have no place to exercise this right. One reason is a recent regulation of the U.S. Postal Service that forbids people from petitioning outside post offices.

Wait a second . . . the Post Office is public property! But the Postal Service wants it both ways. They want the benefits of a government guaranteed monopoly so that no one can compete with them, and they want the ability to deny access to normal activity that’s not only allowed on public property, but constitutionally protected.

That’s why U.S. Term Limits and the Initiative and Referendum Institute have sued to overturn this regulation. The idea that citizens can be prohibited from engaging in peaceful political activity on public property is ridiculous AND dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Post Service specifically allows politicians to pass out their literature at post offices. In their defense, the Postal Service says that they received no negative comments when they published this regulation in the Federal Register. Everyone subscribes to the Federal Register, don’t they?

You may have the right to petition, but looks like you can only use it on the Moon. We’ll see if the courts can bring that right back down to Earth.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The White House will soon project a “huge” budget surplus totaling $1.8 trillion over ten years. By the time you hear this, the projection will have already been made, of course. Just so you know I’m working from a projection of a projection, not the actual projection.

Who knows whether the money will ever show up? Just because the feds say they’ll be able to collect a certain amount in taxes doesn’t mean they’ll do it. Maybe there will be a couple recessions in there bollixing up the works. Maybe another couple of wars or “police actions.” Who knows what could happen.

I guess they can safely project that you and I won’t quit our jobs and go on the dole. But suppose the surplus funds do come in. How to spend them? Clinton wants to expand Medicare. Gore wants to fund all kinds of environmental measures.

Other politicians have other so-called “investments” in mind. By the way, investment is what Washington calls spending your money these days. Just thought you’d want to know that. Everybody’s forgetting that we’ve got a $5 trillion-dollar national debt. If the feds do get a couple extra hundred billion dollars in any particular year, can’t they pay down that debt? They could do that anyway, just by cutting all the useless spending on special interests.

Rather than fighting about how to spend all the excess taxes we’re paying cut spending, cut the debt, cut our taxes. Give the money back. Give it back! You’ve got my mailing address, don’t you?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Technology has had a lot to do with the longest economic expansion in our nation’s history, currently in its ninth consecutive year.

One of the few surveys of congressional voting behavior on technology issues has been done by the Information Technology Industry Council. The council is a consortium of large publicly-traded corporations in the technology sector. Their survey ranks each congressman on seven key votes important to the hi-tech industry. These include issues such as Y2K readiness, trade relations with China, amending U.S. patent laws, and legalization of digital signatures that will make e-commerce transactions more secure.

Fourteen elected members who have voluntarily agreed to limit their terms in office have organized as the Citizen Legislator Caucus. Whether you agree with the hi-tech industry on all these issues or not, it’s interesting to see if there is a difference between citizen legislators and those pursuing a career in Washington.

Citizen legislators ace the survey. Their average score was 87 percent. They even bested the House Internet Caucus. Nearly two-thirds of citizen legislators scored a perfect 100 percent. Among the Internet Caucus only 39 percent of members hit the top ranking.

Perhaps their real-world experience gives our citizen legislators a better understanding of what it takes to succeed in the real world of hi-tech and the real world of business, to the benefit of us all.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

No one seems to stick up for the average person anymore. Maybe that’s because like the residents of mythical Lake Wobegon, we all view ourselves as above average.

Recently, a commentator wondered what it might take to get Joe Six-Pack off the couch and to the polls this November. Well, I have news for him. The average person is working, not lying on the couch. Joe Six-Pack is busy taking care of his own life working, taking the kids places, volunteering in the community.

Why should he take time out of his busy day to vote if there isn’t any real choice? If once in office, the politicians won’t listen anyway? Joe Six-Pack is getting a raw deal by the powers that be.

A Pew Research study found that less than a third of Congressmen “think the American public knows enough about the issues . . . to form wise opinions about what should be done.” Among presidential appointees and senior civil servants (bureaucrats) less than 15 percent give the people any credit for their opinions on the issues.

Frankly, most of our leaders don’t think they should pay us any mind oh, except when it comes time to collect taxes. Then we certainly count. The political elite would do well to stop dumping on Joe Six-Pack and start listening. Joe is not only smarter than they think; but he also pays the bills.

And given a chance to make a difference, he’ll be at the polls all right. As the career politician’s worst nightmare.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Nearly everyone says they support “campaign finance reform.” But people don’t agree on what that reform should be. And when you consider that any so-called reform will be written by the career politicians themselves, well, it’s easy to get discouraged.

Moreover, if lightning strikes and a reform is passed that doesn’t just increase the advantages for incumbents, the incumbents could still thwart the reform through the Federal Election Commission. The FEC is very political. It’s comprised by an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. Anytime both parties flagrantly break the laws, as they did in the 1996 campaign, career politicians get a free pass.

Meanwhile, the FEC illegally harasses groups that run issue ads discussing the records of congressmen. A federal judge fined the agency for such conduct. Interesting, isn’t it, that the FEC lawlessly assaults groups that career politicians don’t like, but can’t manage to enforce the laws that are on the books.

But the problem is deeper than one renegade agency. It’s career politicians in Congress who talk reform but seek to block information that might hurt them politically. Why should Congress have any power at all to muzzle groups or individuals, even if they do call for an incumbent to be defeated? The First Amendment that guarantees free speech specifically tells Congress to butt out.

Freedom of speech means the freedom to say even those things that the people in power don’t like. This is America.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Money is not the root of all evil. I like it. Everyone I know likes it.

Money can be very helpful. They charge money at the movies, the cleaners, the grocery store. Of course, some of the things folks do to get money aren’t too kosher. Most Americans believe their representative in Congress has traded votes for money. Now that’s evil. It’s why people want to regulate money in politics. But the regulations haven’t worked.

Now enemies of the initiative process claim money is corrupting the people’s lawmaking and seek severe restrictions. That’s just silly. Unlike candidates, who can be bribed by contributions, initiatives are written down in black-and-white. Initiatives can’t change their legal wording after passage the way politicians discard campaign promises once in office.

Compare the initiative process to candidates. Even when initiative proponents outspend opponents by a two-to-one margin or more, most initiatives lose at the ballot box. Money doesn’t dictate the outcome.

But in candidate races, the bigger spenders win 96 percent of the time. Money’s an inanimate object. Money isn’t the problem, but power corrupting the individual. It’s when money buys our elected officials that we have a problem.

So, hands off the initiative process and let’s break up the power that corrupts our representatives with term limits.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.