Common Sense with Paul Jacob

Something’s rotten in Washington. We’re learning that government agencies hid evidence and obstructed justice in the aftermath of the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas a siege that left 80 people dead.

The apparent cover-up is a further tragedy on top of the grisly body count of women and children who were part of a religious sect that, whether good or bad, never harmed anyone else.

Who is to blame? Joseph DiGenova, a former independent counsel, says, “A fish rots from the head,” clearly implicating President Clinton for creating a climate that says the rules can be bent or broken.

How about Attorney General Janet Reno? After the death toll in Waco, she said she takes full responsibility. Words. Just words.

Not only is something rotten in Washington, much of Washington is rotten.

Attorney Gerry Spence says that the lesson from Waco is that if the government wants to get you, they will. That’s frightening, and the actions of the Justice Department and the FBI hardly refute the point. Even in a free country, the government can deprive us of our liberties, and even our lives.

But in a free society, when such things happen, our elected officials and those they appoint are supposed to be held accountable. And those who commit these acts are supposed to get prosecuted, not promoted. The situation will not change with the same political hacks who brought us to this pass.

There is a tide in the affairs of men. We need new people more than ever. Our Republic is at stake.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

What if they held an election and nobody came? Terrible, right? What if they held an election and lots of people came, but the politicians ignored us? Worse.

What if they held two elections and the people came out in droves, two separate times on the same issue, and the politicians still told them “get lost!”? That would be Idaho.

The people of Idaho went to the polls in 1994 and placed term limits on their state legislators and local office holders. Instead of accepting this vote of the people, the legislators introduced bills to repeal term limits.

But too many representatives were scared the public backlash might cost them their seats. So they placed a very confusing measure on the ballot to try to fool the people into voting down term limits. The voters saw through it.Even then, still more bills were introduced to repeal the term limits law.

One of the reasons Idaho politicians think they can get away with snubbing their noses at the people they’re supposed to be working for is the terrible lack of competition for legislative seats. The advantages of incumbency have meant that most of the legislators face no serious opposition.

Idaho politicians won’t get away with it. Activist Donna Weaver and a group of supporters around the state are committed to a political process that’s open to the people. The politicians have launched unprecedented and mean-spirited attacks on these patriotic citizens, but Weaver and company won’t budge from their stance that this beautiful state isn’t the politicians’ own private Idaho.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Congresswoman Tillie Fowler won’t ‘fess up.

In 1992, Councilwoman Fowler supported a local term limits measure that passed with an 82 percent vote. She also endorsed the Florida term limits law dubbed “Eight is Enough” that passed with 77 percent. She ran for Congress that year and pledged to serve no more than 8 years. She won.

When she first got to Capitol Hill, Fowler insisted on the floor of Congress, “I am committed to adhere to the 8-year term limit if my voters choose to keep me here that long.” Last year Congresswoman Fowler reaffirmed her pledge saying, “My commitment remains. The 1998 election will be my last, and, should I win another term in 1998, I will retire from the House.”

Pretty darn clear.

But after the ’98 election, rumors started to make the rounds that she would break her pledge. When a public firestorm ensued, Fowler claimed she hadn’t made up her mind. Good people keep their word; bad people break their word. Mrs. Fowler can’t make up her mind.

Her hometown paper now refers to her as “Slick Tillie.” Fowler told USA Today that being in a minor leadership role in Congress has given her “a more open mind on term limits.” When folks in Washington speak of having an open mind it usually signals that all their good sense has fallen out.

At one point, Fowler even said that perhaps she had been “too honest” with people. Too honest? Nice trick, but Slick Tillie, tricks are for career politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Remember the Republican Revolution?

In 1994 Republicans swept into power on a platform of reform. They would clean up an out of touch Congress they said. They agreed to abide by the same laws they pass for everyone else and enact term limits on committee chairman and on Congress as a whole. Republican congressional leaders told us they would usher in a revolution.

At first, things really looked up. They placed Congress under the laws the rest of us live by. Term limits were passed on committee chairs.

But six years later the revolution never happened.

The laws don’t really apply to Congress as they do to you and me. Hundreds of special exemptions have been granted to members of Congress. Speaker Hastert has also decided that chairmen can simply trade their committees between themselves and hang on to power. Term-limited Rep. Van Hilleary of Tennessee complains, “Now that we’re in the majority the Republican Party doesn’t seem to be interested in [term limits] anymore.”Entrenched Republican incumbents are acting just like the old Democrats.

Some good did come. There are members of Congress, and they’re mostly Republicans, who have voluntarily limited their time in Washington, because they truly believe in a citizen legislature. These members have been a breath of fresh air doing what they believe is right and not playing the usual political games. They could write a book on how to be effective in Washington without selling your soul.

But the GOP leadership is another story. They’re writing a very different book, “How to Become a Minority Party.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

It’s hard to get where you’re going these days. You’re stuck in traffic. Why? Career politicians and their special interest cronies. They’re afraid of competition, afraid of new ideas. So the government continues to run the transportation business. Even though they do a lousy job and you’re stuck in traffic.

The career politicians and their special interest cronies are happy. The politicians get to control a key sector of the economy. They get to rake in campaign contributions from special interests get special favors. When it comes to traffic, solutions that could help you get from here to there are oftentimes illegal. All over the country, various transportation monopolies are protected by law from competition. In many cities, vans are outlawed by politicians in league with the taxi cab companies.

Transportation bills in Congress are loaded, not with solutions, but with political pork. But it’s tough politically to do something about it. Career politicians don’t like new ideas, because they actually benefit from old power structures. Drivers and commuters lose out, unless they hire lobbyists of their own. We pay all kinds of fees and taxes that are supposed to be spent on transportation. Problem is political whims determine where that money goes, not the actual needs and wants of consumers.

Politics is making real transportation solutions illegal. We need new ideas and new people in power to change the rules. The first traffic jam we have to break up is the monopoly of career politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Campaign finance reform is coming to the floor of the Congress. Americans support campaign reform for good reason. They know that a 98.5 percent re-election rate and continued arrogance in Washington is unhealthy for our country.

But also for good reason, Americans have no faith that career politicians will reform the system. Career politicians won’t give their challengers an honest shot. The problems with the most talked about proposal, the Shays-Meehan bill, are many. The bill helps incumbents, hurts challengers and tries to muzzle what independent groups can say about congressmen. But the biggest problem is one of the sponsors: Congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts.

Meehan has broken his word to the voters that he would term-limit himself to 8 years. His lack of integrity casts a shadow on everything he does. At the highest levels of Common Cause, a group pushing the Shays-Meehan bill, there is serious dread regarding Meehan. Talk show host and high-profile Democrat Arnie Arnesen says:

“This is what ticks me off, because I have to stand there and applaud him on campaign finance reform as he’s lying . . . that makes me into a hypocrite. . . . We cannot support something that Marty Meehan stands for. Because if he’s lying about [term limits], why won’t he be lying about campaign finance reform?”

Americans are rightfully skeptical of politicians who pretend they’ll reform a system they benefit from. In Marty Meehan’s case, there’s no question he cannot be trusted.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Recently a candidate for Congress attended a meeting of political activists. He told the folks that he wanted to win the seat and hold it for 20 years. One of the activists ventured, “I take it you’re not for term limits?” “Oh yes, yes, yes,” said the candidate. “I’m for term limits. I’m a BIG supporter of term limits.”

Politicians are notorious at talking the talk, but then not walking the walk. For career politicians, issues are something they put in their speeches and commercials because they know that’s what voters care about. Issues are the bait politicians use to catch voters, but politicians aren’t committed to anything but the act of reeling us in. They often don’t respect our opinions the morning after the election.

But there is a pledge that gives us as voters a lot better handle on what is truly motivating someone to run for office. It’s called the Term Limits Pledge. It’s not a pledge to support term limit bills in a Congress dead-set against them. It’s a pledge about not pursuing a career as a politician, at all. Going to Washington for a short period of public service as a citizen legislator. No more than three terms, tops.

Career politicians become skillful at the bob and weave of telling people what they want to hear, and then finding excuses for failing to follow through. But representatives who take the Term Limits Pledge swear off a career. They act on their belief in term limits. And they do fight for what they believe in. They walk the walk.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

An emergency has been declared in Washington. Has violence broken out? Are we on the verge of war? Walking on nuclear eggshells? No, none of that. The specific emergency declared by Congress is the 2000 census.

Now the census isn’t exactly an emergency. We’ve known about it since the Constitution was ratified in 1790. What gives? Congress is simply claiming it’s an emergency so they can bust the budget caps and go on a spending spree. Just one more Washington lie.

Yet, while Congress is playing games, there is a real emergency the continued lack of seriousness and honesty on the part of those in Washington who handle the people’s money.

In the 1997 budget deal, the President and Congress agreed to budget caps to slow future spending increases. But career politicians saw it as another Washington photo-op, a nice fairytale for the folks back home. The spending caps give us a fighting chance against the looming crisis in Social Security and the $5.5 trillion in debt that crushes taxpayers with huge interest payments.

But to cynical career politicians the caps were meaningless the minute taxpayers turned off the evening news. The career politicians didn’t expect to deal with a group in the Congress who aren’t pursuing careers and thus are serious about keeping their word on the budget caps.

Those who made the Term Limits Pledge: Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and others are fighting for honest accounting. They’re dealing with the real emergency in Washington.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Denver is known as the “Mile High” city. Nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains, it is actually a mile above sea level. As the capital of Colorado, a political swing state, politics tend to be interesting there. Reforms like term limits first took root in Colorado. But Denver itself has not been reform-minded.

When a 1994 statewide vote limited the terms of all local elected officials, career politicians in Denver thought it must have been meant for others, surely not them. The good citizens of Denver would understand that the city couldn’t survive without the miracles regularly produced by these professional politicians. After all, the city is a mile above sea level higher than most of the thrones of Europe. So the royalists on the Denver council put a repeal of term limits on the ballot.

Voters were not amused, and when the votes were counted neither were the mayor and council. Voters said “wait a second!” and kept term limits by a two to one margin. Now the council has dreamed up a new scheme.

Since the voters won’t agree with them, they’ll simply reduce the voters’ control of the council. The council is taking the first steps toward destroying the initiative process that allows citizens to reform government directly. They are seeking to raise the petition requirements by 600 percent. That’s more than a mile high. It would destroy the initiative process completely.

Thankfully, there’s a big fly in the council’s ointment. Voters must approve this change. And they won’t.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.