ThisIsCommonSense.org

They say if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. But some folks don’t even try to build the mousetrap. Instead, they beat a path to Washington for special favors.

When someone builds a better product they deserve to do well financially. Their hard work and smarts make our lives better. The more lives they improve, the more they make. That’s the beauty and the fairness of the free market system.

Compare that with a system in which you get rich by convincing someone in power to subsidize your business or hobble the competition. That destroys the free market system that has made our country the richest in the world. But it gives Congress a lot more power when they can make some businesses winners and others losers. It’s how incumbent politicians raise so much money.

Avondale Industries, a Louisiana corporation, was worried that a merger of two competitors would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Every member of the Louisiana delegation to Congress urged the government to block the merger except one, Rep. John Cooksey. Dr. Cooksey took a pledge to stay in office no more than 3 terms. Not obsessed with his own career as a politician, he can concentrate on doing the right thing. “I want Avondale to be successful because they have a good product,” he said. “I don’t want them to be successful because they are being propped up by politicians.”

We need more citizen legislators who will do the right thing and protect everybody’s equal rights under the law. In politics, that’s the better mousetrap.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Is money the root of all evil? That’s what some believe and they’re convinced that getting money out of politics will save our system.

But the issue of campaign financing isn’t quite that simple. The facts don’t agree with the emotions of some reformers. And the career politicians mugging for the cameras simply ignore the facts. The main campaign finance legislation in the House, the Shays-​Meehan bill, would cap spending in congressional races at $600,000.

That’s a big problem.

In the 1998 elections 311 incumbents spent under $800,000 on their campaigns. All the incumbents won. Of the 279 challengers who spent under $800,000, every single one of them lost. Incumbency is much more important than money in determining who will win an election. Still, the incumbents are trying to set rules under which experience tells us no challenger would win.

Career politicians pretend to pass campaign finance reform to clean up the system and give challengers a fair chance. But in reality, their bill is designed to protect them from competition. Money isn’t the problem. We all need money and most of us won’t let the need for money take away our honesty and integrity. The problem is power.

If we allow career politicians to regulate the election process they’ll have more power and money. And we’ll go from few choices at the polls to none.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Politicians say it takes a new legislator a year or two just to find the bathroom. Must be a pretty uncomfortable year or two. Of course, this says more about the old-​timers’ desire to protect their turf than about reality. In the real world, a new employee is expected to learn the job in a matter of days or weeks, not years.

One of the reasons change doesn’t happen in Washington is because the career politicians are in no hurry for change. Heaven knows they aren’t planning to leave anytime soon. Freshman Congressman Jim DeMint of South Carolina is a rookie coming to rescue the Congress from the outdated ways of career politicians. He’s limited himself to 3 terms and determined to hit the ground running. He said recently:

I’ve heard folks say it takes five or six years sometimes to get a bill through Congress. It reminds me of the stories of Ford and Chrysler, who thought it was impossible to introduce a new car in less than five or six years. Until they saw the Japanese doing it in less than two years, with lower prices, and higher quality. The system gets in the way. We’ve got folks to [limit their service in Congress]; not folks with political experience, but people with experience in the private sector. I’ve already seen [that] the people who have limited their terms have made a big difference in Congress, not just in legislation, but in the whole attitude.

Representative DeMint found the bathroom, but he won’t be able to work the old boy system in Congress. Instead, he’s going to change it.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The Empire is striking back. The American people voted and voted for term limits.

This decade 23 states placed limits on their congressional delegations. Eighteen states (40 percent of the population) now have limits on their state legislatures. Thousands of local officials across the country have mandated rotation in office. New York, LA, Denver, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. have all enacted limits in the 90’s.

How do the Darth Vaders of the political class react to all this? There’s a lot of heavy breathing that’s for sure. If you didn’t support term limits before you might after learning about all the dirty tricks politicians have pulled against term limits. Term limits laws have been taken to court endlessly. In California, legislators twice sued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But term limits prevailed.

In 1995, the Supreme Court did strike down the congressional term limits laws passed in 23 states. But citizen legislators in the Congress are fighting back by limiting their own terms. The political class has tried to thwart the voters at the local level, too. Political bosses in New York City slipped a confusing measure on the ballot to extend term limits to 12 years. Voters said no.

In city after city, politicians have used every trick in the book to try to fool voters into repealing them. Voters are sticking to their guns. Yes, the Empire is striking back. But term limits are working and coming soon to a town near you. May the force be with you.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Are term limits just a fad? Are they the hula-​hoop of the 90’s? That’s what some political pundits tell us.

Well, they should check their history books. Term limits are nearly as old as democracy itself. The ancient Greeks realized that even if elected democratically, elected officials could use their power to monopolize the office. Aristotle argued that term limits should be an essential part of any republic’s constitution. Cicero, the famous Roman statesmen, was a strong believer in term limits.

In America, term limits pre-​date the constitution. And in fact, no less than the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, opposed ratifying our constitution until two problems were fixed. He wanted, first, a bill of rights, and second, rotation in office what we call term limits. Jefferson’s first concern was dealt with by The Bill of Rights, but Americans are still trying to find a way to place term limits on Congress.

Even when the law didn’t require rotation in office, American tradition has. President Washington stepped down after two terms. Until Franklin Roosevelt, other presidents followed that tradition. Now presidential term limits are part of the Constitution.

Term limits a fad? Well, it’s the law for the President, 38 governors, 18 state legislatures and thousands of local officials. Nothing against the hula-​hoop, but term limits will be around a lot longer.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Representative Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is moonlighting at a second job.

It’s not really that he needs the money. But Coburn wants to stay in touch with his real career. You see his career isn’t being a politician in fact, he’s pledged to serve no more than 3 terms and will step down from office in 2000.

Tom Coburn is a doctor. He delivers babies. A year ago Coburn threatened to quit the Congress if the professional politicians continued, through the internal rules of Congress, to try to prevent him from working with his medical patients. He certainly wasn’t going to shut down the family medical clinic he runs in Oklahoma. He would leave Congress before doing that.

Coburn fought back, recognizing that the rules were designed to cut ties with your vocation and push people into making politics their career. Said Dr. Coburn, “They’re really killing any idea for representation outside the clique of good old boys. It suggests people can’t believe in term limits and serve in Congress.”

Tom Coburn won his fight to continue to practice medicine, and is now in his final term. Some of the old-​timers suggest you can’t accomplish much in six years, but just recently the House leadership turned to none other than Dr. Coburn to help them make sense out of the array of legislation on healthcare. Real world experience is important, and thank goodness there’s a doctor in the House. Dr. Coburn knows that bringing new life into this world is more important than politics.

That’s why voters will always be glad he took the time to moonlight in the Congress.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.