ThisIsCommonSense.org

President Abraham Lincoln warned us: “If our American society and United States Government are overthrown, it will come from the voracious desire for office, this wriggle to live without toil, work and labor from which I am not free myself.”

Are state legislators in Ohio now working to prove honest Abe right? Or are politicians innocently attempting to improve state government operations? Or, perhaps it’s not legislators at all; maybe it’s a ghost at work here.

What am I talking about? A bill winding its way through the Ohio Legislature in this time of budget crunches was amended to spend $1.8 million dollars adding new seats to various state commissions. The skinny is that legislators were looking to provide themselves with a few cushy places to land before being term-​limited out of office. What better than serving on a state commission at top-dollar!

The chief of staff for House Republicans says “simply not true.” Of course, I would much rather talk with the legislator that wrote the provision. But the sponsor of the idea may well have been a ghost: no legislator will own up to it.

The effort that was being attempted by legislators, or perhaps by some evil spirit, is scuttled for now, pulled from the bill much less mysteriously than it was tucked into it. Speaker Larry Householder says it was “just causing too much hell.”

Yeah, we know what you mean. Abe Lincoln talked about it. Thank goodness for term limits.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Let’s hope it’s not just tilting at windmills.

The National Taxpayers Union has just has just launched a national ad campaign to focus America’s attention on union violence. NTU believes that if corporate fraud is bad, then certainly beating people up for crossing a picket line is also bad. Why criticize one and ignore the other?

According to one of NTU’s ads, “Too many job actions include harassment, assaults, and even worse. In Ohio this spring, one union member was charged with plotting to launch explosives into a workplace.”

NTU tells the viewer to “tell Congress that union violence against hard-​working Americans must stop. Tell them to pass the Freedom From Union Violence Act. Because that’s the only way the thugs who commit these crimes will get the message.”

Do we really need congressional action to counter violence that is already against the law? Maybe.

Authorities have too often turned a blind eye to union-​led, union-​bred violence. As if punching somebody in the nose in the name of the working man is somehow more forgivable than punching somebody in the nose because they looked at you the wrong way. The same union leaders wagging their fingers at fraudulent CEOs need to speak out at least as strongly against union violence.

Will the National Taxpayers Union succeed in their idealistic campaign against beating people up? I have to hope. It’s not the kind of thing anybody should have to put up with. And if enough people come to understand the problem, maybe we won’t have to.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

It’s always a good sign when the people in power enact reasonable limits on that power, all by themselves. It shows that they have respect for voters and democracy.

That seems to the attitude in Rhode Island, where Representative William J. Murphy, a member of the Rhode Island House who is about to become Speaker, is working with four other leaders to limit the terms of legislative leaders. And they don’t want to do it by gentleman’s agreement or easily rescinded statute, either. They want a constitutional amendment.

Murphy says he does not want to serve the same decade-​long stint as Speaker that his predecessor served. He believes that eight consecutive years as House Speaker or Senate President should be the limit. His goal is to “help restore the confidence of the people of Rhode Island in the legislature and its leadership.”

Rhode Islanders have been critical of apparent abuse among legislative leaders in recent years which included an attempt to cover up allegations of abuse of power by a previous speaker.

Murphy says, “My most important priority as speaker will be to remove that siege and restore the confidence of the people of Rhode Island in the General Assembly and in its leaders. If I cannot accomplish that goal, I will consider my time as speaker of the House a failure.

“Term limits for the principal leader of each chamber is one of several legislative reform initiatives that I will be proposing.”

Great start on a great idea. Next, how about term-​limiting all the members of the Rhode Island Legislature?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Hey, have you heard about the latest discovery? It seems that chemists have discovered a whole new element.

Well, reports about this discovery have actually been floating around the Internet for a few years now, but it’s new to me anyway. A major research institution known as MRI has discovered the heaviest element yet. They’re calling it Governmentium. I

n addition to the protons, Governmentium is composed of one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 11 assistant deputy neutrons, for a total atomic mass of 312. All these particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-​like particles called peons.

Governmentium is inert but easily detected, since it slows down every reaction it comes into contact with. Governmentium does not decay, but instead undergoes periodic reorganization in which some of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, the mass of Governmentium actually increases over time. That’s because during each reorganization, some morons become neutrons, forming isodopes. This propensity to promote morons leads some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain saturation point.

This saturation point is referred to as “Critical Morass.” You can’t make this stuff up. Or at least, I can’t. As I say, I got it off the Internet. The author is anonymous.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

There’s a shakeup happening in the Michigan Senate.

House members had already felt the impact of term limits in 1998, when 64 members became ineligible to serve again. Now it is the Senate’s turn. In the coming session, 27 new members are taking seats in the 38-​member state Senate; the House will see 50 new members.

But the Detroit News says it isn’t even happening. “The Senate is getting a transfusion of old blood from the House,” says the News . “Of the 27 freshmen to be sworn in for the 38-​member Senate, 26 are current or former members of the state House just a quick stroll across the Capitol.”

Lobbyist Bill Rustem confirms that “If the goal of term limits was fresh faces, it didn’t work.”

Hey, be careful what you wish for, guys. After all, most voters would probably not object if term limits were even tougher. In any case, the claim is bogus. Thanks to the limits that went into effect in 1998, many of the House members who have now found a place in the Senate have been in the legislature for just six years, or even less.

These comparatively short legislative resumes hardly turn the Capitol into a “giant recycling bin.” And transplants from the House will have to leave at the end of two senatorial terms. So the fresh faces will keep on coming.

No matter how you slice it, term limits invigorate electoral competition and prevent encrusted old-​boy networks from sending down permanent roots in either chamber.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Hey, do you like trains, do you like to watch trains, do you like to find out everything you can about trains? Are you a railroad buff, a so-​called “railfan”?

Well, then you are under arrest. Well, not quite under arrest. Although some have been threatened with arrest. But you may be approached and interrogated and told don’t do it again. Even a police officer who trainspots as a hobby was given the shake-​down by other police officers. They took Richard Whitenight’s notebook and grilled him about every scribble. They searched his car and took photos of it. And then he had to sign a written agreement never to return to that particular location.

Other railfans have reported similar treatment. All this started happening because of the usual vague terrorist warnings, this time about railroads. But don’t we get new alerts every few weeks about something or other being targeted? Maybe? Possibly?

A while back the word went out about apartment complexes. I don’t know about you, but when I’m thinking about moving into a place, I go there, look around, take a few notes. I could understand somebody coming up to me and saying, Hey, I don’t think I know you, can I help you? But threatening me with interrogation and arrest is something else again.

Railfans are well-​known to the railroads. What we want to be on the lookout for is suspicious behavior. If we must be on the lookout, let’s look for suspicious activity that is suspicious activity. Not the kinds of things people always do … when they are free.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.