ThisIsCommonSense.org

There’s a new word in the English language: to “Nethercutt.” To nethercutt means to go back on one’s word; to say one thing in order to get elected to public office and then to do the opposite once elected. It means to be dishonest, a hypocrite, an opportunist.

The word comes from Congressman George Nethercutt, who defeated the Speaker of the House on a pledge to serve no more than three terms in Congress. Nethercutt has now broken his word to the voters and plans to keep running to cash in on a career in Washington.

The Seattle Times defines “Nethercutting” as, “the cynical, self-​serving hypocrisy of someone who exploits others for personal gain.” In stark contrast to Nethercutt, Representative Matt Salmon and seven others who made term limit pledges have kept them. When asked about Nethercutt’s excuses for breaking his word, Salmon said bluntly: “I don’t buy those arguments and I can trump all of them with one card: if you give your word you ought to keep it end of story.”

The sports pages recently carried a story about the kind of integrity Mr. Nethercutt lacks. Felipe Alou is the manager of the Montreal Expos, a baseball team that has been down on their luck this year. Alou turned down an offer to go to another team, saying: “I always said I would not leave this organization … I had to keep my word. It doesn’t matter if you are winning games or losing games. We die with our word.”

No wonder people like sports better than politics. There’s less chance you’ll get “nethercutted.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Abe Lincoln told us that “a House divided against itself cannot stand.” Today, we so often see the public sector pitted against the private sector. This only divides our country, weakening all of us.

Too many politicians never experience what it means to work in the private sector. So how can they represent the majority of Americans who do? On the other hand, many congressional districts don’t have a living soul who has ever served in Congress other than the incumbent. That denies us the kind of shared knowledge we need to have an informed debate.

Consider the 16th district of Michigan, represented for the last 44 years by John Dingell. Mr. Dingell’s father held the seat for 22 years before that. So for the last 66 years no one else in this part of Michigan was able to gain experience in the Congress. No wonder there’s such a wide gulf between the public and private sector!

It would help if those who represent us in Washington know that one day they’ll be private citizens again. We also need to give more people a chance to serve in public office. Term limits is now accomplishing this in 18 state legislatures and can do the same in Congress.

As Americans, our strength has always been our ability to bring people together from different nationalities, religions and philosophies through a common belief in individual freedom and equal opportunity. Career politicians divide us. And history tells us that united we stand, divided we fall. Old Abe had a point.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Some people complain about the commercialization of Christmas. What I’m worried about are folks forgetting the true meaning of the Fourth of July.

We don’t celebrate July 4th for the sake of the date itself. July 4th is important because it’s Independence Day the day that our Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was unveiled to America and the world.

On July 4th 1776, America was born as a separate and independent nation, and the first nation ever conceived in liberty for every person. Our experiment with self-​government began on July 4th. But it didn’t stop there.

We had to build a new government, brick by constitutional brick. The patriots who built that government did a great job, but they weren’t perfect.

One thing they failed to provide for was term limits. Thomas Jefferson was unable to attend the

Monday, June 21, 1999

Constitutional Convention. He worried that without term limits the new government would slowly change from one representative of the people to a government benefiting the politicians. Jefferson said: “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on office, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

For a century and a half, few legislators served for long periods. But then the power and perks of office began to grow, and today, career politicians cling to office like barnacles to a rusty hull. Since 1776 we have continued to fight to protect and expand freedom. That’s something we should remember on Independence Day.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

A while back, I told you about Congress legislating smaller toilets that perform so poorly that a black-​market has developed for the old outlawed toilets that actually work. It’s outrageous that the politicians think they can dictate every aspect of our lives, and in the process take things that work and break them.

Well, our federal government is at it again. Our career Congress has given the Department of Energy the authority to regulate our household appliances. It seems that the bureaucrats at the D.O.E. don’t like washing machines in which clothes load from the top. They say front-​loading machines use less energy. The problem, however, is that consumers want top-​loading machines. 95 percent of consumers purchase these washers. The front-​loading machines have been on the market for years, but they cost more and they just don’t work to the satisfaction of consumers.

Too bad, say the politicians and bureaucrats. The Department of Energy is in the process of regulating our popular washing machines right out of existence. Of course, the makers of the politically favored washers are happy. Ben Lieberman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute reports: “Producers admit that they don’t even have to worry about consumer satisfaction since the public would no longer have a choice.”

If career politicians knew anything about washing machines, there wouldn’t be so darn much dirty laundry in Washington. Tell them to leave our washing machines alone. And our toilets too while you’re at it.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

We simply don’t have enough money.” Doesn’t that sounds like all of us when we look at our family budget, but in this case it’s actually James Dyer, staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, complaining about budget caps on Congress.

It seems career politicians can never spend too much of your money. Yet taxpayers, who have been getting soaked for years, are ready to say enough is enough. The average taxpayer spends 42 percent of his or her income on taxes there are income taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, etc. So here we are paying more to government in taxes then we spend on housing, or on food, or you name it. And yet for those in Washington it’s never enough.

But there are those in Washington on the taxpayers’ side. Representative Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and a number of members who have limited their time in Congress are fighting to hold the line on wasteful spending. When the House tried to give hundreds of millions more to federal bureaucrats, Coburn led the charge against this waste. Coburn says plainly, “My inclination is to try to get Republicans to do what they told the American people they will do and not spend any money above the caps and not spend one dollar of Social Security money.”

Nowhere is the dividing line between career politicians and citizen legislators more clear than when it comes to spending our hard-​earned tax dollars. Career politicians spend trillions of tax dollars with the attitude that it’s never enough. Tom Coburn and other term-​limited members are standing up and saying, “Enough is enough!”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

There’s a big difference between “independence” and “arrogance.” Our Founders wanted judges to be independent from politics and the other two branches of government.

The judiciary could thus protect our freedoms and defend our Constitution against assaults from powerful politicians or even against majorities of the public.But being independent is no excuse for judicial tyranny. Judges must not abuse their power to interpret the law by, in effect, making the law. But that’s what’s happening across the country:

• Two years ago, Federal Judge Stephen Reinhardt struck down California’s term limits law saying California voters were too dumb to know what they were doing. Thankfully, his ridiculous and condescending opinion was overturned on appeal and term limits were restored.
• In Montana, just recently the state Supreme Court struck down a voter-​enacted tax initiative by rewriting the state’s Constitution and throwing out 100 years of precedence.
• In Nebraska, Judge David Lanphier struck down state term limits by rewriting the constitution’s initiative requirements and canceling a vote of the people. But in Nebraska voters can decide whether to retain a judge or not. And voters sent his arrogance packing.

On the federal level, though judges serve for life, the Constitution empowers Congress to regulate them. Career politicians are shirking their duties to protect our system. An arrogant Congress refuses to check an arrogant court, but ordinary citizens will and so will citizen legislators.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.