Common Sense with Paul Jacob

Mark Twain was a smart man. You know he didn’t like Congress very much. “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress,” Twain once said.

Well, the more things change the more they stay the same. A new report by the journalists at Capitol Hill Blue, an Internet site, details a large amount of criminal behavior by our esteemed representatives in Congress. They report that in recent years members of Congress have gone to jail for child molestation, fraud and other charges. Some of the stories belong in Ripley’s “Believe-It-or-Not.” Did you know that Rep. Barney Frank’s roommate ran a prostitution ring out of their Washington townhouse? The report goes on to say 29 members of Congress have been accused of spousal abuse. Twenty-seven have a record for drunk driving. Nineteen members have been accused of writing bad checks. Eight have been arrested for shoplifting, seven for fraud, four for theft, three for assault and one for criminal trespass.

Even after surviving the millenium, it’s enough to make you want to head for the hills. Sure, some go to Washington to cash in on a career riding the gravy train. But there are those who don’t. Those who come to serve for a limited time and then return home. They are far less likely to sink into corrupt activity. So don’t give up. Southern Illinois University political scientist George Harleigh says the answer is simple, “Congressional service should be just that service, not a career.”

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

The millenium: it’s not this New Year’s Day, as the media’s been telling us, but next year January 1, 2001. So rather than grapple with a thousand years of history, why not consider this decade. It’s the term limits decade.

So far in the 90’s, term limits have been placed on 18 state legislatures from zero state legislators to over 40 percent term-limited. Local term limits have swept the country capping over 3,000 officials including those in 8 of the 10 largest cities in the nation. Seventy-six percent of governors are now under term limits along with many other statewide offices.

Term limits have been around since the Ancient Greeks and Romans an idea as old as democracy itself. But the modern term limits movement is a babe in the woods, not even a decade old yet. It began in 1990 when citizens won initiatives in three states California, Colorado and Oklahoma. Since then term limits have become what one newspaper calls “a mild form of permanent revolution.” The impact of term limits at the state and local level is being felt. Over 400 legislative seats will fall under term limits for the first time next year. More seats will follow in 2002 and 2004.

The fabulous 50’s are remembered for cars with fins and sock hops, the turbulent 60’s for protest and social change, the 70’s for inflation and disco music, the 80’s saw the Cold War end. But the 90’s this is the term limits decade.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

We’re a nation of laws, not men. Before the American Revolution, men were ruled by other men. Mankind’s struggle for freedom has been a battle to place all men under the law so that no one could rule others. That’s why in America, presidents unlike kings can’t pass laws by decree.

Or can they? Presidents can issue executive orders to tell the executive branch agencies the bureaucracy how to implement the laws passed by Congress. In theory, these executive orders cannot establish new laws. But many fear in reality that’s exactly what’s happening. The President is pursuing an ‘executive order strategy.’ Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt admits, “We’ve switched the rules of the game. We’re not trying to do anything legislatively.” Presidential advisor Paul Begala smugly told The New York Times , “Stroke of the pen. Law of the Land. Kinda cool.” No, it’s not cool. One man changing the law unilaterally isn’t conducive to freedom.

The crusty old politicians in Congress, looking always to their personal political well being, ignore the president usurping their constitutional powers. But Representative Jack Metcalf of Washington is fighting to protect the rule of law. He’s introduced legislation to stop executive orders from masquerading as laws thus restoring the separation of powers our founders established. Metcalf is not a career politician angling for a safe slot in Washington. He’s limited himself to three terms. Thus the Constitution matters more to him than playing Washington politics. Now that’s cool.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

To prove their relevance to us, career politicians try to address whatever problems are on the minds of voters. But in doing so, the Washington politicians only show how irrelevant they really are.

Parents care about education; it’s a top issue. So before Congress adjourned for the year, they passed legislation to fund 100,000 new teachers. Boy, how nice of them! What good guys!

But wait a second, the federal government doesn’t run a single school. They don’t directly hire a single classroom teacher. So why on earth should we parents and taxpayers send our money all the way to Washington? The federal government only returns a small part of it to our local communities.

Why not simply cut federal taxes and let us set our own educational priorities locally? Simple.

Once our tax money flows to Washington, the professional politicians want to keep it. Our tax dollars are the source of their power. Career congressmen aren’t about to give back any of their power. Only term-limited representatives, who have shunned longtime careers as powerbrokers, have the courage to champion the taxpayers over the political elite. Heaven knows there are a lot more direct ways to squander our tax dollars, but Congress wants the power that comes from control.

To really solve our problems, we need to get the career politicians in Congress out of the way and make decisions back home where we live.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

My wife and I had children because we wanted to hold those bundles of joy, to hear that pitter-patter of little feet, to tackle the challenges of a teenager. Well, not so much the last, but we’ll deal with it.

We certainly didn’t take federal tax policy into account. No one should be making decisions about marriage and family on the basis of the tax code. And politicians shouldn’t have the power to alter our plans, our families.

But that’s what they seek to do when they manipulate the tax code. Get ready voters are about to be hit with all kinds of special tax proposals. Proposals to reward marriage, punish marriage, reward having children, punish having children, reward us for staying home with our kids and reward us for sticking our kids in day care.

Where will it end? And is it really any business of the federal government?

Career politicians in Washington think so. They want your vote so they offer to alter the tax code to your advantage. The next moment they suggest changes for another group’s interest. The winners? Politicians who confiscate ever more influence over our most personal and important decisions.

When it comes to marriage, having children and caring for them, people should choose from what’s in their hearts and NOT what government will take, or not take, out of their pockets. Politicians should cut taxes across the board instead of trying to manipulate our behavior as if we were lab rats. Career politicians in Washington need to know that when it comes to our families, we do it for love, not money. Our kids are too important.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

“Houston, we’ve got a problem . . . ” A line made famous by the movie Apollo 13.

But taxpayers in Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, have got no problems at all after recent elections put a majority on the city council pledged not to raise taxes. Taxpayers for Accountability is trumpeting the results of the recent election and crediting a reform made several years ago in Houston: term limits.

The group says, “Thanks to term limits, [taxpayers] now have the majority power to defeat future tax increases.” Of course, politicians have been known to say one thing and then do another especially if it’s in their career interest. But term limits take away the temptation to trade what’s right for what is expedient career-wise. Political careers aren’t allowed.

The new anti-tax majority includes council members who have lived and worked under term limits for several years. They’ve kept their word on taxes. The National Taxpayers Union found the same was true for congressmen who limit themselves voluntarily. According to an NTU report, “Lawmakers who keep their pledge to limit their own terms appear to keep other promises as well-lower spending and less government.”

Making certain our elected officials have only public service in mind, and not a lengthy career as a pampered, pensioned, well-perked politician, means a new level of frugality, accountability and honesty. That’s sure to put a bounce in any taxpayer’s step . . . as if he were walking on the moon.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

You don’t have to be a Ph.D. in the economics of anti-trust law to see the irony of the federal government’s legal attack on Microsoft. Here we have Microsoft, the leading company in the most productive, competitive and innovative sector of our society, under siege from the least productive and most monopolized element in society the federal government.

Let’s look at the picture before us. The computer industry, which our government argues is being threatened by the alleged monopoly practices of Microsoft, is putting new computers on our desks with ever more effective programs. We can now balance our checkbook, go shopping, design intricate publications and e-mail our parents the new picture of their grandkid all on our personal computer. And with many more features and power, the prices keep going down.

Now what about the federal government? First, its Board of Directors, the Congress, has monopolized the political process. In the last election 98.5 percent of incumbents were reelected, most without any meaningful competition. For those who had served more than 2 terms, the reelection rate was 100 percent. That’s beyond anything remotely possible in the productive private sector. And more important, when is the last time you saw real innovation in the federal government a problem solved or a true cut in the amount of your tax bill?

Monopolies are known to raise prices and diminish quality. That doesn’t match the record of Microsoft or the computer industry. The real monopoly isn’t Mr. Gates and Microsoft; it’s the career politicians in Washington.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

I like to talk and some people tell me I’m pretty good at it. I even like to argue different points of view. I’m something of a debater.

But there comes a time when the debate has to end a time to act. In the wake of serious violence at public schools in recent months, it wasn’t too surprising that school officials in Decatur, Illinois acted swiftly when students started a brawl at a football game. The students were expelled.

What is surprising, is that the school officials are taking the flak while the out-of-control students are being portrayed as victims. Jesse Jackson actually defended the students’ actions saying they didn’t use weapons.

So violence is only wrong if you use a gun? It’s okay to bash people with your fists? It’s true enough that many schools have been overreacting. In Decatur the expulsion was originally 2 years. Maybe that goes a little too far. Now they’ve chopped the penalty down to one year.

But one cannot commit arbitrary violence and then expect official reaction to always be perfectly proportionate. Understand where parents and schools are coming from with these zero-tolerance policies. Does having a tolerant society mean we tolerate violence?

Unfortunately that’s too often the message as self-proclaimed experts and politicians endlessly debate the issue. We can’t wait for some kind of educational utopia. As parents, we don’t have that luxury. Our kids must be safe right now if not in public schools, then in private schools or taught at home. Our kids are too important.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Career politicians think they own your wallet. With it, they believe they can work miracles. But the miracles never happen.

The words of the Wizard of Oz come to mind: “I’m not a bad man; I’m just not a very good wizard.”

Citizen legislators, who go to Congress for a strictly limited time, think differently. They know their job is to run the government, not our lives. They also remember where the government’s money comes from from you and me.

Here’s an example of the difference. In the final days of this congressional session, a bill was all set to sail through the House, as it had the Senate, spending $31 million on pork-barrel projects. These five pork projects would be named for former Senators all in keeping with the good ol’ boy policy of “let’s congratulate and reward ourselves and our fellow politicians first. We can worry about the taxpayers some other time.”

But citizen legislators brought old-fashioned common sense to bear. Mark Sanford of South Carolina pointed out that $31 million could hire more teachers or pay college tuition for about 4,000 kids.

Rep. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said he was troubled by spending this money to honor politicians responsible for giving us a $6 trillion debt. “There is something not quite right with that,” said Coburn. This time the good guys won. The bill was defeated.

Term-limited members made sure the taxpayers were represented, not just the politicians. That’s a big difference.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.