Common Sense with Paul Jacob

What would you say if you heard that in some banana republic somewhere the national government came in and canceled a local election? Sounds like a dictatorship, doesn’t it? Well, it happened last year in America.

A group of citizens in Washington, D.C. went through all the legal requirements to put an initiative on the ballot. They drafted a statute, collected thousands of signatures and campaigned among their fellow citizens for a change in policy.

Then, just days before the election, our Congress ordered city officials not to count or report the people’s votes. Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia led the charge to strip the citizens of Washington, DC of their voting rights. Now that the prohibition is about to expire, Mr. Barr wants to extend it.

The ballot issue is a controversial one: allowing sick patients to use marijuana if prescribed by a doctor. Doctors and politicians disagree strongly on this matter though it should be noted that in the 11 statewide elections, voters have endorsed the use of marijuana for medical purposes every time.

U.S. Term Limits, my group, certainly takes no position on the Medical Marijuana Initiative. But we do have an opinion on politicians arrogantly denying voters a chance to have their votes counted and reported. We’re against it.

Career politicians think they can dictate to us as if they were our rulers, instead of our servants. But for cryin’ out loud, this is America! Let’s count the votes.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Too often career politicians treat the government like it’s their personal plaything to be used and abused for their special benefit. It makes me angry.

We’ve all heard the stories of President Clinton renting out the White House to raise campaign cash. He allowed people to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom if they’d make big contributions to the Democratic National Committee.

Last year, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota held a fundraising event on top of Mt. Rushmore. Daschle not only used his connections to get on top of the national monument where other visitors are not allowed. He then used his unfair special access to give lobbyists and large donors unfair special access.

Now Vice-​President Al Gore’s campaign is also exploiting his position. Gore wanted the media to take pictures of him on the Connecticut River. But with the summer drought the river wasn’t high enough. The local utility was ordered to release 4 billion gallons of water into the river, which raised the water level enough to allow Gore to paddle down the river for the media. Price to taxpayers: $7.1 million.

Now that’s all wet if you ask me. The director of the Vermont Department of Natural Resources, said, “They won’t release the water for the fish when we ask them to, but somehow they find themselves able to release it for a politician.”

The longer politicians hold power the more they think this country belongs to them personally. Our national treasures don’t belong to politicians. Instead of dumping billions of gallons of water, let’s dump career politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

In 1776, America declared her independence with the stroke of a pen. But it took blood and courage to win that independence.

The 56 men who signed the Declaration paid a steep price for freedom. Five signers were captured and tortured by the British, and died as traitors. Nine fought and died in the Revolutionary War. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost sons in the Army. They signed the Declaration of Independence knowing that the penalty might be death.

Carter Braxton saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He died in rags.

At Yorktown, Thomas Nelson knew British General Cornwallis was using Nelson’s home for a headquarters. But Nelson demanded that General Washington open fire anyway and his home was destroyed. Such was the price paid by the patriots of the American Revolution.

These were not rabble-​rousing ruffians, but soft-​spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. And so they pledged their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor.”

Thomas Paine wrote, “Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.”

Today, too many of our political leaders are more concerned with protecting their perks and power last week’s pay raise comes to mind than preserving the freedom of us all. It’s quite a contrast.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Recently, legislators from 13 Western states got together to talk about a very serious problem: The People.

It seems more and more power is falling into the hands of the people and out of the hands of entrenched politicians. Those pesky citizen taxpayers have term-​limited the politicians, you see, and are using the initiative process to further reform government. Term limits deprive the poor, downtrodden legislators of their lifelong monopoly on power.

Now, how on earth are legislators going to rule over the masses if they can’t monopolize power, and if the people are on a footing with politicians?! Excuse me while I wring out the tears from my handkerchief.

Okay … I’m okay now.

Thank goodness legislators, in alliance with special interests, are doing something about this, thank goodness. They plan to regulate initiatives out of existence and silence those pesky citizens. One Oregon lobbyist explained, “There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.”

nitiatives curb the power of politicians. Bill Sizemore, of Oregon Taxpayers United, says, “Politicians consider it a threat to their power, as it should be. They should keep their mitts off.”

Lloyd Marbet, of the Coalition for Initiative Rights, says initiatives “[don’t] always produce beautiful legislation, but ironically enough, neither does the Legislature.”

In the sixties, the slogan was “Power to the People.” Today, lobbyists, legislators and special interests are shouting “Power to the Politicians!”

Why don’t we put it to a vote … of the people.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

You aren’t holding your breath for career politicians in Washington to clean up the election process, are you?

Our democratic election system desperately needs to open up to new people and new ideas. But frankly, politicians aren’t too keen on letting others compete for their jobs. Incumbents have too many election advantages. So many that few credible challengers are willing to even consider running. We hear a lot of talk about campaign finance reform, but will career incumbents really make it easier for challengers to beat them at the polls? Again, don’t hold your breath.

Meehan campaigned for office as a reformer, promising to step down after four terms in office. He even wrote to the clerk of the House asking not to be listed on the roll of congressmen after 2000. Now he says he’s grown in office. So Meehan’s breaking his word to the voters and staying in Washington as a career politician. If Meehan can get away with it, it will only be thanks to the advantages he has as an incumbent.

Marty the Hypocrite now has a plan to reform campaign finance. For the first time, it would let Congress regulate what private citizens can say about our congressmen. And under the spending caps in his bill, not a single challenger would have won in the last election.

The congressman breaks his word, abuses the system, and then tries to silence the rest of us. And this is the man whose bill is supposed to make campaigns more fair?

Give me a break, Marty.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

They say that only 2 things are certain in life: death and taxes. Let’s focus on taxes, considered certain for two reasons.

First, taxes are collected involuntarily, and secondly, politicians are very fond of spending other people’s money. Very.

A new report from the National Taxpayers Union says the tax revolt that began with Proposition 13 in the 1970’s would never have happened without the initiative process. NTU found that tax limitation measures passed directly by voters through the initiative have a made a very real difference. On the other hand, tax measures passed by politicians themselves are typically “toothless.”

Why do our so-​called representatives behave so badly when it comes to taxes and spending? The longer a politician sits on the receiving end of your tax dollars, instead of the paying end, the worse it gets. He grows fond of spending money and thereby making friends among special interests.

Our Founders advocated the proposition “No taxation without representation.” But today’s political leaders don’t really represent us on tax issues.

The exceptions are found among those who term-​limit themselves. They know one day soon they’ll give up their powerful position spending our tax dollars and have to go back to merely paying the bills like the rest of us.

Hank Williams used to sing, “I’ll never get out of this world alive.” But the only thing that’s certain about taxes is that career politicians like spending our tax dollars a whole lot more than “We, the People” like paying them.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

President Reagan used to say that Congress spent money like drunken sailors. But he would always apologize to drunken sailors because at least they spent their own money.

Well, there Congress goes again. They’re spending over $100 billion on 198 programs that Congress itself did not authorize.

It works like this: Congress passes an authorization bill which says how much money should be spent and how. Then Congress passes appropriation bills to actually release the funds from the Treasury to “cut the check.” If a program isn’t authorized then Congress has not approved it. Yet, the appropriations committee writes legislation to fund programs that Congress didn’t authorize. And the Rules Committee has a rule under which congressmen cannot object to this unauthorized spending.

A rule against objecting to breaking the rules. Only in Washington!

Who found this little trick and brought it to light? A crusty, old careerist who knows where all the bodies are buried?

Well, no. A freshman, first-​termer, Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado. A guy pledged to serve no more than three terms in Washington. This new kid on the block got 13 other congressmen to sign a letter to the Rules Committee criticizing this practice and urging the Rules Committee not to block objections to this unauthorized spending.

P.J. O’Rourke once said: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” At least we know that not everyone in Congress is drunk with power.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

When our elected officials take office they pledge to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. We all revere the Constitution, or do we?

According to a recent poll by Rasmussen Research, if the Constitution were put to vote today, it would not pass. Only 49 percent would vote in favor.

What’s going on here?

The problem is that if elected officials don’t obey it, our Constitution becomes just another piece of paper. The old Soviet Union had a constitution that guaranteed various rights, but nobody paid attention to it.

Only 1 in 3 Americans believe the government operates under the Constitution, and fully half believe it definitely does not. And true enough the federal government can do virtually anything without constitutional restraint.

For decades, Congress has passed legislation that mocks the limits of the Constitution, yet the Supreme Court barely ever rules an act of Congress unconstitutional. Yet, when it comes to term limits on which the document is silent the court declares the actions of 23 states unconstitutional.

Why? Because the careerists know that term limits would limit their power, just as the Constitution itself does. The Constitution frees the people by placing limits on the federal government. The American people will support the Constitution, provided our elected officials abide by it. And we must fight to prevent politicians from turning our Constitution into just another piece of paper.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

“We’re all in this together.”

That’s what Robert DeNiro kept saying as he risked his life to help people against an oppressive government in the futuristic movie “Brazil.”

A new poll says DeNiro is right, or at least most Americans agree that “we’re all in this together.” Specifically, 67 percent want their representative to look past the narrow interests of their district or region and work for what’s best for the country as a whole.

It’s an old political trick to play on divisions between states, regions, races, nationalities, and religions. The idea is to distract voters. Instead of worrying about what we get from Washington for the tax dollars we spend, they want us to look at what we get compared to some other group.

The politicians want you to think they bring home the bacon. But what they don’t want you to consider is that even in the fattest pork district in the country, the average taxpayer pays a lot more in taxes than they get back.

Career politicians beat their chests about returning a few pennies on the dollars you fork over. They conveniently fail to mention that they voted for wasteful spending in every other district in order to get their pet pork project passed. We all end up poorer, not richer. And the only ones fighting this “rob Peter to pay Paul” mentality are the representatives who limit their time in Congress.

Americans understand that their district won’t truly benefit from policies that hurt the entire country. The career politicians are always trying to separate us, but the American people know we’re all in this together.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

If one more condescending elitist in Washington says the public is “fat, dumb and happy” I’m going to scream.

Professor Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia put the conventional wisdom a little more delicately: “These are good times. They’re not that crazy about Congress, but they really don’t care.”

It’s true, of course that the American people are happier when the economy is strong. Why shouldn’t we be? Our hard work and smarts made it happen.

But we’re not so happy with our government. The Center on Policy Attitudes reported that: “the majority of Americans is quite dissatisfied with the American government. Given that the US economy is booming … one might expect Americans to show higher levels of satisfaction. Nonetheless, fewer than a third of Americans say that they ‘trust the government in Washington to do what is right’ most of the time.” The study also found that 83 percent of us believe special interests have more influence than voters, 67 percent say government doesn’t understand what they think, 89 percent say gridlock in Congress is caused more by partisan posturing than honest disagreement.

The bottom-​line is that this is our government and it should listen to us, but it doesn’t. The career politicians would like us to be “fat, dumb and happy” so that we’ll shut up, pay our taxes and leave the decisions to them.

But until our representatives stop putting their own careers ahead of the public interest, the American people will not be happy. Even in good economic times, we want a government that works for us.

Is anyone in Washington listening?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.