ThisIsCommonSense.org

In Florida, fresh-squeezed orange juice flows like water. And so does support for term limits. In 1992 Florida citizens passed term limits by a record 77 percent vote.

Florida legislators, worried about being squeezed out of power, are now suing the people of Florida who passed term limits by that whopping margin! Of course, Florida’s professional politicians are not alone in their arrogance. Careerists in Ohio and Oregon are also trying to repeal term limits or at the very least delay the limits from taking effect. Current polls that show voters want to keep term limits just as they are. Still, politicians cynically claim to be pro-term limits even as they support delaying and lengthening the limits.

The voters aren’t fooled. They know these same politicians blocked term limits for years. Politicians in Ohio and Oregon won’t get away with their attack on the term limits laws there. Legislators will also lose their lawsuit against the people of Florida the courts have upheld limits in California and Michigan and many other states. In 2000, these states will see more competition then they’ve known in decades. Nearly 90 of 160 Florida legislative seats will be subject to term limits, enabling competitive elections for many seats that are long overdue for new blood. Soon, not only will you be able to get fresh-squeezed orange juice in Florida, but more important, fresh-squeezed legislators.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

In The Wizard of Oz we learn there is no Wizard, only a plump man behind a curtain pushing buttons. When Dorothy confronts this fraud, he says, “I’m not a bad man, I’m just not a very good wizard.”

You can say the same of our congressmen, especially George Nethercutt. Remember Nethercutt beat the powerful House Speaker Tom Foley, 6 years ago, by promising to serve no more than three terms. Now that the time has come for Mr. Nethercutt to hand back power and return home, he’s waffling. He talks about his power to deliver goodies for the district what a great and powerful wizard he is, you see!

Now Nethercutt says he must deliberate and speak to the people of the district. Of course, keeping one’s word shouldn’t require so much deliberation. But in any case, Nethercutt is constantly avoiding meetings where his term limits pledge might come up. Spokane’s Lilac Festival Parade had expected to see Nethercutt, but with forty or more citizens holding signs saying, “KEEP YOUR WORD, GEORGE,” he didn’t show. Nethercutt had confirmed a meeting with Disabled Veterans. But a large contingent of veterans carried signs and banners asking the congressman to keep his word, so again, no Nethercutt. Local activists called for a meeting to talk about the issue. Nethercutt’s office said submit the request in writing. That done, and two more letters to boot, there is still no meeting, and in fact, no response.

George Nethercutt is not a great wizard, but who is? The problem is that if Nethercutt breaks his word he’ll cease to be a good man. There can be no happy ending to that story.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

New York’s Legislature is a mess. It’s like the California State Assembly before citizens there passed term limits and cleared out the career politicians and their partisan back-stabbing and backroom deals.

Hofstra Law Professor Eric Lane says: “The New York legislature is the closest thing to non-representative government you’ll find in America today. Everything in Albany is ridiculous. There’s no debate. There’s no discussion.” In a democracy, power belongs to the people and should be fairly dispersed. But in New York, two men hold near total power over the legislature: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican.

Behind closed doors, these two men render most of the state without any meaningful representation. This is what we’ve come to expect from entrenched career politicians. Last winter, these two pushed through an unpopular and outrageous 38 percent pay raise for the legislature. But one of the scraps offered the public was that legislative pay would be frozen if the state budget wasn’t passed on time. Lo and behold, the career rulers of the legislature can’t agree and thus no budget has been passed. Now we are beginning to hear the howls from legislators trapped in their own cage, and without their pay raise.

Term limits are law in New York City and several other cities where voters could weigh in at the ballot box. But in New York since voters don’t yet enjoy a statewide initiative process, the politicians can deny a vote. New Yorkers deserve a better government, but they’ll have to fight their rulers to get it.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of the all-time great movies. The late Jimmy Stewart plays Mr. Smith, an honest man who knows nothing about politics, but who is chosen by the power brokers to fill a U.S. Senator’s unexpired term. They think Smith is such a novice that he won’t get in the way of their pork-barrel and graft.

But Jefferson Smith turns out to be smarter than the big boys suppose. He can’t be bought off or scared off. When he discovers a graft scheme that would destroy a Boy Scout summer camp, Mr. Smith takes to the floor to filibuster against the bill. Today, another representative has taken to the floor of Congress to fight for what is right. Dr. Tom Coburn, the citizen legislator from Muskogee, Oklahoma, is serious about holding the line on spending and not allowing Congress to steal Social Security money.

When career politicians piled on a 12 percent increase in overhead funding for the Department of Agriculture, Coburn said no. He has offered 100 amendments to block the increase. The Republican leadership is upset with Coburn for not going along with their big spending. Many Democrats are attacking him for “hurting farmers.” But Coburn’s term-limited himself and in his final term. He’s determined to do what’s right to get the nation’s fiscal house in order.

n the movie, the politicians complain that Mr. Smith is holding up the Relief Bill and hurting people. Mr. Smith says, “The people of my state need permanent relief from crooked men riding their backs.” In the end, Mr. Smith won and so will Dr. Coburn.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Quick! Hop a plane and fly to Washington! The Congress is about to rip you off for another two cents on every packet of Kool-Aid you buy!

Think I’m crazy? I’ll have to plead no contest on that one. But what’s even crazier is the way our Congress again and again does the bidding of special interests at your expense. Perhaps saving two cents on Kool-Aid isn’t that important to you. But subsidies our Congress gives the sugar industry cost the taxpayers $1.4 billion every year. The top 100 sugar farms each rake in over $1 million in benefits.

And of course, it doesn’t stop with sugar. Many other products receive subsidies which benefit a few special interests in Washington at the expense of the average taxpayer. If you were to grow peanuts in your back yard and sell them, you could be arrested. As Rep. Mark Sanford, a leader of term-limited members of Congress, points out, “No one in my district would say that that makes sense. Such programs survive only because special interests support them, and because career politicians need the support of the special interests. The only way to solve this problem is to change a representative’s perspective something term limits do very well.”

Okay, so maybe you don’t want to hop a plane for Washington and lobby your congressman for that two cents. But what kind of person do you want to represent you in Congress? A citizen legislator committed to coming back home? Or a career politician ready to cut yet another deal with the special interests so he or she can stay in Washington forever? Your choice.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Our Constitution is a magnificent document, unrivaled in human history. It protects the individual freedom we cherish and limits the power of government.

Everyone in politics claims to be “for” the Constitution. But guess what happens when a second-term Congressman introduces a bill to require every law to explicitly state its constitutional authority. The career politicians can’t muster the votes to pass it.

But it gets worse. A group called Citizens for the Constitution made up of former congressmen, federal officials and Washington lawyers is even more unfriendly to the Constitution. These are the same folks who have been running the Congress and several presidential administrations, passing unconstitutional laws for decades. Their goal is to block constitutional amendments.

Now, most Americans are very cautious about amending the Constitution. That’s why only 27 of the thousands of proposed amendments have been adopted. But to suggest our Constitution should not be amended is to say women shouldn’t vote (the 19th Amendment) or slavery should not be outlawed (the 13th Amendment).

The Constitution was written by men not God. Part of the wisdom of the document’s drafters is their recognition of their own fallibility. That’s why they provided a process to amend it. The Constitution isn’t a dead relic to be placed on a museum shelf. It’s a living, breathing document. Let’s protect the Constitution. Sometimes that means amending it in ways powerful politicians oppose. Term limits come to mind.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.