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Thank goodness Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online has all the answers. He’s settled the argument about whether we ought to worry about big government gobbling away our civil liberties or just worry about big government when it’s under the wing of those lousy left-wingers.

Goldberg says that during this time of security crisis we should simply trust our government to do the right thing. Don’t worry. Be happy. Great idea. Don’t worry your pretty little head about a written constitution enumerating the limited powers of government. And who needs a clumsy old legal code? How silly of us! You gotta have trust, people.

Boy, I feel better already. But folks like William Safire aren’t quite in Goldberg’s corner. Safire is more than a little perturbed that our president has declared a fuzzy martial law to deal with non-​citizens living in the U.S. who are “suspected terrorists.” Any chance that a federal government armed with tremendous police powers and secret trials might abuse that power and the people on trial? Well, it’s possible.

But where’s your trust? You’re not going to give it to rabble-​rousers like George Washington, are you? Washington said: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence it is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master …” How can an old fogey like Washington understand what we face today? Better to trust our sage new politicians to make it up as they go along without a lot of legality mucking up the works. Don’t worry. Be happy.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Looks like we’ve approached touchdown on another national debate over national security. The Congress seems to be resolving the issue of airport security with a “compromise” that will federalize rather than privatize. A few airports will be allowed to experiment with private security options. And, supposedly, in a few years airports that don’t like the government-​provided security will have a chance to opt out.

Thing is, private airport security is what works and private airport security is what we haven’t even tried yet. Oh, you think that’s what we have now? Think again. Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation and Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute have both pointed out how dispersed responsibility for airport security has been. Higgs says the way things stand now, “local law enforcement, the airlines, the airports, and the FAA” all share the responsibility, which means none of them have it. So none of them is actually accountable. Heck, United Airlines can’t even give tasers and stun guns to its pilots without first begging for permission from the government.

Roll Call reports that we have advocates of gun control in the Congress who are getting guns and armed bodyguards now. Yet our government won’t let responsible citizens like former law enforcement officials bear arms while riding on a plane. We need to privatize airports altogether, and let private airports and airlines act to improve the security of their passengers.

I say, let them decide their own security precautions. And let them advertise like hell to the rest of us about what they’re doing better and faster than everybody else.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Wearing gloves and masks to sort the mail…standard now for many postal workers in New Jersey, New York and Washington, DC. A nerve-​wracking situation, but maybe there’s an opportunity here, too.

The United States Postal Service is a government-​protected monopoly. It still exists because it’s a monopoly. Because a ten-​year old kid can get arrested for taking a piece of mail across town for a quarter instead of 34 cents. Over the years, the postal service has hemorrhaged red ink. But it is protected from its own inefficiency. And now taxpayers will have to shell out even more, for all the new security requirements the bug killing equipment and so forth. The new costs could add up to $2.5 billion.

Here’s my idea: Why not let private business deliver the mail? Let’s treat first-​class mail delivery like any other business. Do that, and the competing companies will brag not only that they can deliver the mail better, but also make it more secure. They’ll deploy systems like the kind of electronic mail metering, and monitoring, that UPS and other private companies use right now. And private companies would no doubt pay a little bit better attention to protecting their workers than has the Postal Service during the Anthrax contamination.

The folks at the U.S. Postal Service are doing the best they can under very trying and often unfair circumstances. Let’s make things better for us and for them just as fast as we can. Let’s deliver on postal reform. And who knows? Maybe the price of a stamp will go down instead of up.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

I’m not one of those guys always badmouthing Microsoft. Sure, I’m always badmouthing my computer. And Microsoft has a lot to do with what is going on in my computer. But if Microsoft has something to do with the glitches, it also has a lot to do with what works.

We get impatient if it takes three minutes instead of three seconds for an email to reach someone half-​way around the world. Still, it’s a dang miracle, ain’t it? The law moves a little slower, but we do seem to be near a resolution of the Justice Department’s years-​long anti-​trust suit against Microsoft. A few states must still sign off on the deal. But it looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

For those of us who view this lawsuit as the misbegotten brainchild of envious competitors, the proposed settlement is both a relief and a disappointment. A relief, because at least the company isn’t going to be chopped in half. A disappointment, because Microsoft will still be handcuffed. It will be banned from entering into exclusive contracts with PC makers, for example. And it will have to put up with a three-​man regulatory tribunal that will be allowed to hunker down in Microsoft’s own offices, at Microsoft’s expense, in order to monitor Microsoft’s every move.

Who knows? With a little luck, we still might be able to turn one of the most hard-​driving and successful companies in U.S. history into the functional equivalent of the post office. Not that I’m rooting for that outcome, mind you, and somehow I don’t think that would make our email go any faster.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Okay. Here’s the scoop the U.S. Senate is on board. They have agreed to move forward with a new round of military base closings that the U.S. House has already signed onto. These will be closings of bases that the military itself regards as obsolete. Now a special panel will meet to decide which bases should be shut down. Then the Congress must vote up or down on these recommendations, which means the closings will probably go through.

This bill’s passage is thus a victory for the common good over crass special-​interest politics. Still, it passed by the narrow margin of 53 votes to 47 votes. So even with national security at stake, it seems that the career politicians are still protecting their reelection prospects. Which political party you belong to seems almost irrelevant. Actually, in this case most Senate Democrats sided with the Republican President, who favors the base closings. As does his Secretary of Defense. As does the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Harry Shelton, who argued that the country “cannot afford the costs associated with carrying this excess infrastructure.”

Yet most Senate Republicans opposed the bill, apparently more worried about the immediate economic impact in their backyard than the long-​run impact on national security. As Minority Leader Trent Lott put it, “The timing is not good.” Lott says that the base closings are too much to ask of local communities at a time when their boys are being called upon to defend the country. Um … But that is the point, right? Defending the country.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

What makes America so different from the rest of the world? Our country began with the declaration that all people have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And that these rights cannot be taken away because they belong to us as a birthright not a privilege granted by government.

We’re understandably a bit perplexed by the dangers we face today. Some politicians are trotting out different schemes that in years past were shot down for good reason such as violating the Constitution. Some columnists have even proposed the use of torture against suspected terrorists.

For goodness’ sakes, that’s not exactly the American way! And President Bush now wants military tribunals for suspected terrorists, even those suspects residing in the U.S. Some of us may be tempted to think that we can both keep our freedoms and still get greater security by trampling on the freedoms of immigrants or non-​citizens. But human rights belong to all human beings, not just Americans. Our recognition of that fact is this country’s reason for being. When we deny other human beings the freedoms that we ourselves claim by birthright, we necessarily undercut the basis for our own freedom. Furthermore, such moves undermine the battle to win the hearts and minds of good people throughout the world.

How we treat people really does matter. We’re the good guys. Remember? Oh, I know the pseudo-​sophisticated armchair world leaders will tell us that we have to break some eggs to make omelets, but I don’t buy it. And good guys don’t finish last; we finish first.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.