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One reason most Americans support term limits for members of Congress is that we see how the power of public office changes people. Not just political hacks, but thoughtful and dedicated people, too.

Now we have another example in Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. Wellstone is known as a liberal Democrat. But in Minnesota the two major parties are relatively competitive and the governor is independent Jesse Ventura. So Wellstone’s reputation as an idealistic college professor who cares more about helping the little guy than a political career was key to his defeating a powerful incumbent and winning two terms in the Senate. And he said two terms would be all. That’s what Wellstone pledged to voters in 1990 and again in 1996: two terms and then he’d come home. Now he’s changed his mind.

Once again we see firsthand that good people can go to Washington and get co-​opted. And when it comes to breaking one’s word, true bipartisanship reigns. Republican House member Ron Lewis of Kentucky announced he is breaking his word to step down after eight years in office. Lewis isn’t a teacher like Wellstone, but rather a Baptist preacher.

If idealistic teachers and idealistic preachers can be corrupted by power, how can we expect the average politician to stay the course? That’s why we need term limits.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Oh, that crazy federal government! It just keeps growing and growing and growing! What to do?

Well, every new session of Congress, the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, issues another edition of their Cato Handbook. The Handbook invites our representatives to take a look at what they’re doing and how they might do it better. The handbook is fatter than ever this time around. Cato says it’s because the government is fatter than ever.

Ed Crane, Cato’s president, says, “Washington now controls a $2 trillion budget, most of which it redistributes to buy votes, ‘reform’ problems it created, and keep the incumbents of both political parties in power.”

I am happy to report that, in addition to all its other fine proposals to fix things, the Handbook makes a solid case for term limits. After all, term limits would help increase the number of citizen legislators who give the other reforms a fair chance.

The Handbook surveys the successes in the 19 term-​limited statehouses around the country and invites legislators in our nation’s capital to limit their terms voluntarily. It reports that it’s the self-​limiters in Congress like Matt Salmon of Arizona and Mark Sanford of South Carolina who have proven the most willing to resist the culture of spending in DC.

Want to read all about it? Just visit the Cato website at cato​.org. The entire volume is online. And be sure to tell your congressman to start reforming that crazy federal government of ours.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Buh-​bye. Congressman Bud Shuster of Pennsylvania is resigning. Shuster was just spanked by the House Ethics Committee for breaking various rules. But his real crime is playing the same games all the career politicians play.

Shuster is neck-​deep in the corrupt Big Dig project in Boston and he’s pushed terribly wasteful pork-​barrel bills through the Transportation Committee he chaired. He has even bribed his colleagues by offering $25 million extra tax dollars for the district of each member of Congress who sanctioned all the pork.

How has Shuster been able to keep schussing down the track of the irresponsible career politician? In 28 years, he’s never had a competitive race for his solidly GOP seat, was often never even opposed for reelection. But now, after having just won his seat yet again, he quits. Why now? Well, it finally dawned on him that the term limits passed on committee chairmen back in 1994 are going to stand.

So he’s collecting his marbles and going home. Shuster had hoped for some sort of waiver from the GOP leadership to allow him to thwart the limits and stay at the pinnacle of power. But there is another reason too. Shuster plans to keep this seat in the family by handing it to his son. Had Shuster Senior resigned before the election, there would have been a very competitive race for this seat. Thanks to the timing, GOP insiders, not the voters, will choose his replacement. Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Boy, the career-​politician establishment in Nebraska is a tough nut to crack. But we did it. By golly, we did it. I hope.

As last November’s election loomed, Nebraska State Senator Dave Landis opined that voters, quote, “ought to have a broad of range of possibilities, the maximum number of qualified people able to run.”

Landis didn’t seem to understand that qualified people often don’t run at all when their district is monopolized by an incumbent. Then again, he’s been in office since 1978, so maybe he does get it.

Guy Curtis, who leads the Nebraska Term Limits Committee, says, “We’ve been trying to get legislators to enact term limits for years. But a hog won’t butcher itself.”

Voters passed term limits in Nebraska in 1992 and in 1994. Each time, judges found some flimsy excuse to declare the vote of the people null and void. Now, however, because of their actions, several of these judges have been chased from office.

And the good citizens of Nebraska just won’t take No for an answer. They did it all over again in the year 2000. Got all the signatures needed to post a ballot question. Crossed every legal “t” and dotted every constitutional “i.” Got it on the ballot. And got it passed. Again.

By a whopping margin Nebraska became the 19th state to term-​limit their legislators. Will the courts try to throw out the will of the people a third time? Well … that might look a little suspicious.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Is it just me? Am I missing something here?

A while ago I complained about how the White House was vetting the network’s TV scripts for shows like “ER” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Under an agreement between the networks and the White House, the networks could get paid for any anti-​drug messages in their shows, as a way to reduce their commitment to air public service announcements.

When all this first came to light, there was quite a hullabaloo about whether the federal government should be scanning TV scripts in advance of airing, then compensating folks for politically correct content. It’s a dangerous precedent. It sounds like what they do in dictatorships, where the Ministry of Culture or what-​have-​you checks everything first to make sure it’s kosher.The Federal Communications Commission looked into the matter. Now they have ruled. They aren’t imposing any fines, but they say the networks violated FCC rules, should have identified the federal government as a sponsor of the TV episodes in question, and must do so from now on.

Am I the only one who doesn’t get this? Isn’t there another and even more culpable party here, the federal government? The FCC says absolutely nothing in its ruling about whether the feds should be functioning as a Ministry of Culture, sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong. Rather than telling TV shows to list the government as a sponsor, let’s tell the feds to get out of the picture.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.

Remember Bill Clinton’s pledge of eight years ago: that he would supply us with the most ethical presidential administration in U.S. history?

Well, just in case you don’t, let me recall to your memory an early presidential action that was supposed to prove that Mr. Clinton took his own promise seriously. It is the new chief executive’s first day in office, January 21, 1993. According to a White House press release, Clinton has, quote, “called on his White House staff to uphold the highest possible ethical standards and to put the needs of the American people ahead of personal ambitions.” Indeed, less than an hour after assuming office, the President issued an executive order banning government employees from lobbying government agencies for five full years after leaving office. This ban would curb the appearance of improper influence-peddling.

Eight years go by, and the patina of ethical purity has rusted a bit over the past eight years. So Mr. Clinton decides he might as well scrub it off entirely; after all, what’s one more violation of the public trust at this late date? And so, in the last days of his tenure, the President has reversed his own executive order with an unpublicized and furtive stroke of the pen. Of course, right and wrong hasn’t changed in these last eight years. But Mr. Clinton’s ability to appear ethical has changed.

So the Clinton gang need not wait five years to cash in on what they call their government “service.” Oh well. At least the guy is term-limited.

This is Common Sense.  I’m Paul Jacob.