ThisIsCommonSense.org

School has begun for children around the world, including a small Cuban boy named Elian.

You remember Elian Gonzalez. Last November, his mother fled with him and several others from Cuba to America. Their craft didn’t quite make it to the Florida shore. His mother died. Now, after a bitter international custody battle and an armed raid by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Elian is back in school in Cuba, and, says Reuters, “finally got to give his name during the teacher’s roll call.” All has ended well for the little tyke, apparently.

The story also notes that Elian repeated the daily chant of all Cuban schoolchildren: “Pioneers for Communism, we will be like Che!” If Communism survives in Cuba, Elian can look forward to a future in which he follows the Communist party line … or else. Many in Cuba will be paying special attention to his conduct. What if he wants to leave the country? Yeah right. What if, heaven forbid, he decides he doesn’t like life under Communism and chooses to speak out against it? Will he be thrown in jail and even tortured, for saying the wrong thing? Many have been.

One cause of Elian’s uncertain future is dictator Fidel Castro, who was recently given a very warm welcome at the United Nations. Castro and Clinton just happened to bump into each other in the hall, and Clinton didn’t hesitate to shake the hand of the dictator. But it’s okay, because Elian got to answer when his name was called.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

I received a letter recently from Edward Watkins of Ledyard, Connecticut. Mr. Watkins writes:

Connecticut Public Radio ran a report tonight that, throughout Connecticut, very few races for local offices even have contenders this year. They contributed it to two factors: (1) low pay in local government offices compared to private sector pay in a booming economy, (2) the high cost of conducting LOCAL campaigns. I would like to add my own important third factor: lack of term limits. Why should any normal person, who wants to be a productive citizen, attempt to run when incumbents have such a large advantage? Public service, it seems, is out the window!

Thanks for the letter Ed. The whole point of pay is to attract qualified candidates. That’s true in business and it’s true for any political job, too. So when some argue that the problem causing a lack of competition is low pay, we can easily test that theory. If the theory is valid, when a council seat opens up, we would have few candidates.

Yet, what we see is that there are plenty of candidates running for office when no incumbent stands in the way. That’s the reality. When incumbents hold power term after term there is little competition regardless of pay or even the relative cost of campaigns. There may indeed be places where the pay is too low, but usually the pay is too high. If we want more electoral competition, we need more open seats. We need term limits.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

We were the first country in which a free people created the government. The Constitution that empowered our government also limited it. But Americans weren’t satisfied that our rights were protected from tyranny until the Bill of Rights was passed, too. That’s why I’m concerned about several stories that suggest IRS audits and federal indictments are being used selectively against those who speak out against abuse of power.

For instance, the IRS is threatening a woman who publicly took both Al Gore and Bill Clinton to task. There isn’t proof that this is being politically orchestrated, but it sure seems strange that she joins the ranks of Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and Elizabeth Ward Gracen, all of whom have accused Clinton of misconduct and then been audited by the IRS.

And many conservative groups like the NRA and the Heritage Foundation also have been audited in the last few years, raising more red flags. And there’s the whistle-​blower who embarrassed the Justice department by publicly revealing that government authorities had used incendiary weapons at Waco something the feds had long denied.

Now the whistle-​blower, former US attorney William Johnson, may be indicted for withholding some of his personal notes from the FBI. That is a criminal offense. But several others who withheld information are not being indicted. The only difference? They didn’t embarrass the government. Maybe it’s all a big coincidence. But if not, this is a most despicable tyranny.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

If you think the high cost of gas is unfair, you’re right. But don’t blame the gas stations or the oil companies. Like you and me, they’re just trying to make a living. When the costs go up for every single seller in that market, you can bet that the prices you have to pay will go up too. But are all of those costs necessary?

One worthless cost is arbitrary regulation. Refiners are now being forced to reformulate their gasoline with ethanol. It supposedly has environmental benefits, but it’s more a farm subsidy than anything else. This and other burdens mean that building new refineries has become a very risky investment. So supply is lower and prices go up. Then there’s taxes, taxes, and more taxes.

Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute reports that over the past twenty years the gas tax is the fastest growing tax imposed on middle-​income Americans. In 1980 the feds charged 4 cents a gallon. Now it’s 18 cents. Add a few more dimes for state and local tax gouging, and it turns out that 40 or 50 cents of the cost of each gallon is imposed from above. Much like cigarettes and liquor, the stuff that gets us from here to there is being treated as a cash cow by the government.

The GOP Congress has mumbled about dropping a nickel from the gas tax, but hasn’t followed through. Who pays for the spinelessness of the career politicians? You and me.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

If I told you that anarchy reigned in L.A., you might suppose I was referring to corruption and criminal activity by Los Angeles police. Actually, this particular anarchy is taking place in Los Angeles County and it has to do with the desire of career politicians there to trash democracy to protect their careers.

Term limits activists turned in enough signatures on petitions to qualify a measure for the November ballot. At first, the county officials said the signatures weren’t enough. Then, after the deadline for placing the measure on the ballot had passed, county officials admitted: Oh yeah, looks like you do have enough John Hancocks on this thing. But oops! You missed the deadline.

The measure enacts a two-​term limit on County Supervisors and stops them from drawing their own political boundaries. As expected, all five sitting L.A. County Supervisors are opposing the initiative. Their offices have become lifetime positions. The districts are huge, containing nearly 2 million residents apiece. No incumbent supervisor has lost an election in 20 years. And of course, those county officials counting term limits signatures know who butters their bread.

Term limits activists are taking these power-​grabbers to court. So far the local courts have allowed this lawlessness to continue, accepting the lame excuse of County officials that changing the ballots now would be chaotic. And it’s true that justice can be inconvenient, especially for the people whose hands are caught in the cookie jar.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob

Don’t you hate it when politicians put their careers ahead of their duty as our representatives? It’s even worse when they do so using our tax dollars.

Monday, September 11, 2000

This year Education Secretary Richard Riley has been traveling so much he’s managed to attend campaign events for 10 vulnerable congressional incumbents. In fact, 80 percent of his visits have been with Democrats facing tough reelection campaigns. All the trips have been paid for by you guessed it you, the taxpayer.

Mr. Riley declined to speak to reporters, but his spokesperson said, “It’s all education-​related.” Well, that’s very nice. Education-related.

Yes, our well-​paid Education Secretary is campaigning for his cronies and sending taxpayers the bill, but not to worry, his tax-​funded PR flak says it’s “education-​related.” What’s the job description of the Secretary of Education? Does he actually administer and manage the Department? Or is he just a glorified messenger with a briefcase full of tax dollars? If politics is what motivates Mr. Riley then he should go to work for the Democratic National Committee, not the taxpayers.

One Republican suggested Riley has been in Washington long enough to learn how to abuse the system. Both parties do this and both parties are wrong. The longer folks stay in Washington, the more likely they are to forget that it’s not their money it’s yours.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.