ThisIsCommonSense.org

I was driving home when it hit me.

I had gone out of town for a speech and missed my daughter’s school Christmas pageant. On the car phone my wife told me all about it and how excited our daughter was. “I wish you could have been here,” my wife said. That’s when I realized that I could have been there if only I had put my family first.

Changing the world, helping people, restoring Congress are all worthy goals. But not at the price of putting them before one’s family. We all struggle to keep a healthy perspective in this life.

It may be one of the toughest challenges our representatives in Congress face. Traveling back and forth from Washington, so often away from their families, constantly facing pressure to alter their principles to gain support from one special interest or another, and the well-​documented corrupting influence of power, it’s all a recipe for trouble. No wonder even those congressmen who campaign on “family values” have an incredibly high divorce rate.

We send good men and women to Washington, but we place them in an unhealthy system. This is particularly true when they begin to pursue their own career interests, which never match the people’s interests. One cannot serve two masters.

Representative Tom Coburn, a medical doctor who has limited himself to 3 terms, says, “People become addicted to the morphine of power and ego and it does affect your judgement. It’s mind-​altering.” Rep. Mark Sanford has also limited himself to 3 terms. His wife Jenny is glad he’ll soon be spending more time with their boys. She told a reporter, “He’s not the only one in the family who’s for term limits.”

My wife knows exactly what she means. The line between your family and your job is the finest line you’ll ever walk, and for our political leaders, and everyone else, it should lead back home.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Have you ever urged anyone to break his word? You know I haven’t either. It’s a pretty unusual not to mention unethical thing to do.

So why on earth is the Republican leadership urging several members of Congress to break the solemn pledges they made to voters to step down in 2000 after three terms in office?

The New York Times writes, “House Republicans struggling to save their slim congressional majority are urging Republicans who promised to limit their terms to renege on those pledges and seek reelection anyway.” In an ugly way this shows just how powerful incumbency really is: taxpayer-​funded mailings, a big staff, easy access to media and the name recognition that comes with it, the ability to dole out special favors from the federal government that equals votes and campaign contributions.

In 1998, the reelection rate was 98.5 percent and no one with more than two terms under his belt was defeated. Incumbency according to the experts, career politicians themselves is so powerful in winning elections that it easily compensates for turning the central tenet and promise of one’s original campaign into a lie.

What a sham!

The same politicians who impeach President Clinton for perjury, now urge their fellows to toss aside all integrity and break the public trust again. When Republican leaders persuade a member of Congress to break his oath, the damage goes beyond the pledge-​breaker’s own district. It will tarnish Republicans everywhere.

Such hubris , as the Greeks called this brand of pride, is usually followed by a mighty fall.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

He was the most powerful political leader in our history. He could have been elected again and again as president of the United States. Some historians believe he was so popular that he could have declared himself King.

But George Washington didn’t want himself or anyone else to be king. After his second term, George Washington stepped down making it clear that no one should monopolize a seat of public power. He faithfully gave back to the people the enormous power they entrusted to him.

Thus, Washington established the tradition of a two-​term limit on the president that continued for 142 years until broken by Franklin Roosevelt. Once the tradition was broken, Congress moved quickly to make it the law of the land through the 22nd Amendment. The states ratified the amendment within a year. We just celebrated not only Washington’s birthday but also the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, his legacy of presidential term limits.

When the Amendment was passed, Harry Truman was president. True to Truman’s “the buck stops here” philosophy, he stepped down after two terms, even though the amendment exempted him. Truman told us, “In my opinion eight years as president is enough and sometimes too much for any man to serve in that capacity.” And he added, “There is a lure in power. It can get into a man’s blood just as gambling or lust for money have been known to do.”

Washington and Truman understood the corrupting nature of power, and they had the character to hand back that power. Great men lead by example; an example today’s leaders would do well to follow.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Congress is in the toilet.

Now, I’m not talking about their public approval ratings, but something that truly hits home. For Americans moving into newly constructed homes, there is growing frustration with toilets that simply don’t get the job done.

The new toilets contain less water. Folks are finding they often have to flush several times to do … well … what toilets are supposed to do. Needing several flushes uses more water and wastes the most precious of all commodities: your time.

So why don’t contractors simply go back to the old toilets people want?

Because Congress legislated these new toilets. It’s against the law to put in the old-​style. In fact, a black-​market is developing as people plead with their plumbers to install toilets that work.

What will Congress do? Change their silly law or create a new federal police force to raid houses looking for illegally installed toilets? And why didn’t Congress install these new toilets in their own offices first? Why are we always the guinea pigs?

Congress should lead, not just dictate to the rest of us. Out-​of-​touch politicians think they can change the laws of nature by decree. Haven’t they a clue that the marketplace embraces any product that uses less water or less energy or less of anything that costs money. But the product has to work.

Today, 59 members of Congress have pledged to term-​limit themselves. We need more of these citizen statesmen to keep Congress in touch and out of our toilet.

These legislators are on a deadline. They think differently than career politicians. Their goal isn’t to dictate every last detail of our lives. I think Congressmen who aren’t spending the rest of their lives in Washington won’t be so quick to mess with our toilets frankly, something that works pretty darn well, without the help of career politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.