ThisIsCommonSense.org

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.

Remember the old commercial slogan that said to women, “You’ve come a long way baby”?

This century women gained the right to vote, but today women in politics seem to be hitting a glass ceiling. Women remain woefully under-​represented. In Congress, they are only 9 percent of the Senate and a mere 12 percent of the House. But that doesn’t fully explain the problem.

When it comes to leadership positions, women are completely shut out of the top posts in both chambers. And not a single woman chairs a committee where the real power is. That’s not progress. Why aren’t women making more progress? Incumbents have all the advantages and few sensible people can be convinced to quit their jobs to take on these powerful incumbents.

Most incumbents are, of course, men. A study by the National Women’s Political Caucus concluded: “Winning elections has nothing to do with the sex of the candidate, and everything to do with incumbency.” With term limits in effect for state legislatures, both Maine and Oregon have elected their first woman speaker. Women are also gaining other leadership positions.

But our national legislature, the Congress, has been monopolized by incumbents. Monopolies in the private sector, that denied women a fair chance, wouldn’t be tolerated. Why then are so many powerful folks in Washington, including the leaders of women’s groups, tolerating a political “good ole boy” network?

Women have come a long way, but with term limits they can go even further.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Salmon are fish so strong they can swim upstream. But when I think of Salmon, Congressman Matt Salmon of Arizona first comes to mind.

Rep. Salmon also swims against the current the career politician current of Washington. He’s limited himself to 6 years and is now in his final term. You’ve heard from professional politicians, but listen to what citizen legislator Matt Salmon recently said:

I’m leaving, believing more firmly in term limits than I ever did when I first got here, because I can’t count on my fingers and toes the numbers of times people have said, “Well, Matt, I know you look at so-​and-​so as kind of a squishy Congressman, somebody that really kind of vacillates on the issues, but boy you should have known him back when he first got here. Boy, he was the Rock of Gibraltar, he was firm.“I ask them, why did you cast such-​and-​such a vote, that just doesn’t seem to be in line with your philosophy … “well, the Speaker promised that he would come and do a fund-​raiser for me, or well, if I cast this vote, then I’ll get this plumb committee spot, then I can raise more money so I can keep coming back here with this wonderful job.” The fact is people do cast their votes based on their political longevity. That’s just the way it is, and that’s the way it will always be until you have a group of people that are more interested in doing what they came to do, and changing the direction of this country than they are in looking out for their own career.

That’s Matt Salmon. Don’t you wish your representative thought like that?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

If you’re having brain surgery, wouldn’t you want an experienced doctor? If your basement is full of water, don’t you want an experienced plumber? If you’re on trial for your life, don’t you want an experienced lawyer? Sure.

But when it comes to those who represent us in Congress, most Americans do NOT want an experienced politician.

Is it because we don’t value experience? Not at all. It’s precisely because we do value experience real world experience.

What we need in Congress is not more politicians expert in writing a press release or talking out of both sides of their mouth. We need people who have experience in running a business, who have worked in health care or in our schools folks who know what it is to earn a living and raise a family because they’ve done it.

George McGovern spent 24 years in the U.S. Senate. When he left Congress, he started a small inn in Vermont. Unfortunately, the inn was not successful, but McGovern learned some things about business. McGovern said to the Wall Street Journal, “I wish that someone had told me about the problems of running a business. I have to pay taxes, meet a payroll I wish I had had a better sense of what it took to do that when I was in Washington.”

Not only do we want representatives who are fresh from the private sector; we want legislators who are planning to return to the private sector. We want them connected to our lives. And if any of these citizen legislators are good plumbers, I hope they’ll come back home soon my basement’s full of water again.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.