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Recently I talked about how one of our Founding Fathers, James Madison, diagnosed the problem of special interests long before they became the kind of headache they are today. Madison knew how the sugar lobby would behave before there was a sugar lobby. We say special interest. Madison’s word was faction.

There are two ways to try to control “the violence of faction,” Madison explained. One is to limit the causes of faction. But you can’t stop people from having different opinions and interests and we must never stop people from expressing or acting upon those opinions and interests. Sadly, that’s what some proposals for Campaign Finance Reform threaten to do. Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, said Madison. You can’t save freedom by destroying freedom.

So instead of trying to limit the causes of special interests, we should try to limit the effects. Madison thought the Republican principles enshrined in the Constitution would go far to “secure the public good and private rights” against the dangerous effects of faction. He was right. But he didn’t realize how strong a faction politicians themselves would become, thanks to their virtually limitless hold on power.

The Founding Fathers thought about making term limits a part of the Constitution, but few people desired a political career back then. So in the end they decided it wasn’t necessary. Big mistake, as Jefferson realized at the time. Not one that’s too late to correct, though.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Is it a good thing to keep your promises especially solemn, official, public promises about very important things? Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President, thought so. His example is a lesson for the politicians of today.

Before Franklin Roosevelt came along in 1932, all American presidents had followed George Washington’s lead to serve only two terms. After two terms as President, Washington believed it important to turn power over to another citizen. Teddy Roosevelt, in his autobiography, recalled that during the 1904 presidential campaign his opponents had criticized his, “supposed personal ambition and intention to use the office of President to perpetuate myself in power.” So once he was elected he made the following promise to help unite the country: “The wise custom which limits the President to two terms regards the substance and not the form, and under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another nomination.”

Teddy enjoyed being President and came to regret his commitment to step down after one term. But as 1908 rolled around, he followed through and stepped down from office. Like the vast majority of today’s self-​limiters, he kept his word. He demonstrated integrity. He proved the cynics wrong. Teddy wanted to stay president but, even more, he wanted to be a man of honor. That’s a lesson for all ages.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Hey, I thought Chad was a country in Africa. But thanks to the razor-​close presidential election, now I know what a chad really is: that little circle or square of paper that may or may not fall out of a ballot when a voter punches it.

With the presidential race so close, every chad that floated to the floor in Florida was the subject of intense scrutiny, debate, and national angst. The races weren’t so close in those 67 House districts where congressional incumbents had no challengers this year. And indeed, most incumbents had no problem snagging reelection, thanks to the overwhelming taxpayer-​funded advantages of incumbency.

Incumbents won 98.5 percent of the time. It’s a shame. Elections should be competitive. They should involve real choices and chances. Is there any way to achieve greater competition? How about term limits? At the end of your three terms in the House or two in the Senate, you step down and give other citizens a chance to govern. Just like eleven congressmen did this year, voluntarily.

What happened in Florida is an ironic reversal of the all-​too-​common scenario of our democracy: electoral contests leeched of all competitiveness, so lopsided it’s hardly worth bothering to count the ballots, let alone the chads.

The good thing about term limits is that they will help make every chad count on a regular basis, not just every couple hundred years.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

America is a place where if you work hard enough anything you can dream can happen. Well, thanks in part to term limits.

Take the story of Phillip Brutus. Many years ago this Haitian immigrant was a part-​time janitor at a law firm. While emptying the trash one day, he overheard the senior partner quizzing junior lawyers on Latin legal terms. When the junior lawyers were stumped, Brutus spoke up with the correct answer. In that room full of raised eyebrows and jaws dropped wide open, he decided to become a lawyer.

After years of poverty and sacrifice, Brutus earned his law degree and opened up a practice. Then he dreamed of serving his community in the state legislature. In Florida, incumbency effectively blocked new people. Most incumbent legislators didn’t face any competition at all.

Phillip’s challenge of a powerful incumbent went the way of virtually all such challenges: he lost. Then Florida’s term limits law took effect and all that changed. Suddenly there were more candidates running then you could shake a stick at. Brutus sought an open seat where there was no entrenched incumbent and he won becoming the first Haitian-​American elected to Florida’s Legislature.

When incumbents can no longer monopolize our politics, voters get real choices and anything can happen. Our economy has long been open to those who work hardest and best serve their customers. Shouldn’t our political process work this way, too? With term limits it does.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Whose side are you on? That seems to have been mighty important in all the wrangling over who’ll be the next president. It’s taking quite a while to figure out who that will be, but it’s the work of a moment to see there are serious problems in our politics. The sense of legitimacy that serves to unite Americans of differing views just isn’t there.

A big part of the reason is that partisanship is playing a large and corrosive role from administrative officials to court justices. How many Republicans feel comfortable about the election boards in overwhelmingly Democratic Florida counties making decisions about the intent of voters ala dimpled or pregnant chads? And who can blame Democrats for suspecting that the Republican Secretary of State might perceive her discretion through a partisan lens?

For years Americans have supported term limits feeling that over time career politicians tend to put their political party and their personal careers ahead of their public duties. Madison, chief architect of the Constitution, warned against factions, his term for groups that pursue their special interests at the expense of the common interest.

Rep. Steve Largent of Oklahoma is an NFL Hall-​of-​Famer who has term-​limited himself in Congress. He says, “… I wasn’t elected to represent just the Republican or Democratic teams … the team that we’re all on is the American team.” Let’s end the partisan stranglehold on our government.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Attention, America. Attention. The long battle is almost over. The Department of Agriculture has proposed to grant American farmers the all-​important right to create smaller holes in Swiss cheese. They’ve bowed to pressure from groups like the Wisconsin Cheese Makers, which argued that the eye-​size requirements for Swiss cheese are “out of step with the demands of the consumer and the marketer.”

Fans of Swiss cheese are wild with joy. Mary Smith, veteran cheese-​eater of Kalamazoo, Michigan says, “I’m tired of all those huge holes. Why the regulators have taken so long to permit smaller Swiss-​cheese holes is beyond me. Of course, I don’t want the holes to be too small. Well … I guess they know what they’re doing.” Hey, thank you so much, Mary, for your input. That was very valuable. And thank goodness our leaders don’t leave the fate of devoted eaters of cheese to the brutal free market.

Without the regulators in Washington, who knows what size the holes in Swiss cheese would be? Some might be too large for the cheese altogether. And some might be so small you could hardly see them! It’s all too scary to contemplate. One thing’s certain: It must take years of experience for our bureaucrats and career politicians to master the intricacies of cheese regulation.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.