Tag: democracy

Categories
general freedom

Nix the Union Jack?

New Zealand, flags, flag, democracy, voting, Common Sense

“Get a wriggle on,” New Zealand’s Electoral Commission is telling citizens
who want to cast a vote before today’s deadline to mail in ballots.

New Zealand is choosing a new flag.

Maybe.

In the referendum ending today, the first of two, voters will choose one of five proposed new flags. The second referendum comes next year when the chosen new design goes mano a mano against the current flag.

For years, Prime Minister John Key has itched to “scratch” the Union Jack, the United Kingdom’s flag, off the New Zealand national flag.

To assert some independence, I suppose. Hey, I can relate.

HBO’s John Oliver calls New Zealand “Australia’s Australia.” Glance at the two nation’s flags, they’re virtually identical. Populating a remote two-​island nation, New Zealanders may share a desire not to live in any other nation’s shadow.

Granted, there were no demonstrations for the flag re-​design, in the streets of Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch — or anywhere else, as far as I can tell. This was a referred measure, from politicians to the people — not an initiative.

And the referendums will cost $26 million, something not lost on the citizenry.

Furthermore, a flag is far less important than issues of war and peace, taxes, jobs, you name it.

But I really like that politicians didn’t give a designer a no-​bid contract and do the choosing without the people. In fact, after whittling down to offer voters four designs in this referendum, a fifth entry was added after a petition for it on social media caught fire.

Could the flag chosen be as pleasing as the democratic process being used to get it?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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New Zealand, flags, flag, democracy, voting, Common Sense

 

Categories
meme term limits

We already have term limits, you moron…

Term Limits, meme, illustration, congressional approval rating, re-election rate

Uhmmm,Yeah. So…how’s that Been working out for you?

(Public Approval Rating for congress: 15% | Re-​election rate for congress: 90%)

Click below to get a high resolution version of this image (suitable for printing and sharing)

Term Limits, meme, illustration, congressional approval rating, re-election rate

 

Photo credits (endorsement of this message is not implied): cc Randy Stern on flickr /​ cc Raelene Gutlerrez on flikr

 

Categories
crime and punishment folly general freedom ideological culture

South Dakota Déjà Vu

Chad Haber, Annette Bosworth, Marty Jackley, South Dakota, illustration, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

In the words of Yogi Berra, the recently deceased baseball great: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

We’ve followed the incredible case of Dr. Annette Bosworth extensively this year. She was convicted of twelve felony counts of petition fraud for circulating petitions that were signed at her medical office by patients (and her sister), while the doctor was in the Philippines on a medical mercy mission.

I don’t defend Dr. Bosworth signing that affidavit, stating that she witnessed those signatures, but I also don’t see criminal intent. Her attorney advised her it was lawful and all the signers were legitimate voters who truly wanted her to run for the U.S. Senate. Talking about felony fraud in such a case seriously misses the forest for the trees.

Bosworth wasn’t sentenced to prison time, thankfully.

But she lost her medical license.

Let’s hold people accountable, but not with an over-​the-​top vengeance likely to scare the average citizen away from political participation altogether. That’s been my message to South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley.

What about déjà vu?

Today, in a Pierre courtroom, Annette’s husband, Chad Haber, will be arraigned on felony charges for signing as the circulator on a petition with two signatures affixed when he was with his wife on that medical trip.

AG Jackley loudly proclaims that this is not his indictment; it was filed by a county prosecutor. But anyone who didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday knows how these things tend to work.

Haber challenged Jackley last election and the feud is well known and long-​running. Being a prosecutor requires judgment, something Jackley lacks … as he will no doubt prove in court.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Chad Haber, Annette Bosworth, Marty Jackley, South Dakota, illustration, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

 

Categories
folly general freedom ideological culture term limits

Congo Prez Prizes Service

Congo-Brazzaville’s president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Nguesso, Africa, democracy, voting, elections, collage, photomontage, illustration, JimGill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

Congo-Brazzaville’s president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, is quite the statesman.

He’s actually done what many an illustrious American pol with an obsession about “campaign finance” would merely like to do, but cannot (that darn First Amendment!): prohibited all talk about politics prior to the next election.

Indeed, the government has shut down the Internet and cellular SMS services, simply to prevent undue influence prior to the upcoming votes. Democracy requires a veil of ignorance, we’re told, and Nguesso’s taken that august philosophical scheme to its logical conclusion: no information running through the information superhighway of the modern age … at gunpoint.

And like many a long-​term American insider, he’s balking at term limits, too. He has served his legally limited two terms. So he and his fellow statesmen put a referendum onto the upcoming ballot to overthrow them.

Just so he can serve longer.

Think of the sacrifice! He really must be looking out for his earnest and ardent supporters.

But he didn’t stop there. To fulfill his mandate, and continue in office, he has to entreat the people to overturn Congo’s mandated retirement age. At 71, he’s now too old to legally run, even if he were a first-termer.

Trifecta! — a pol so insistent at continuing his life of never-​ending public service that he fights against ageism, term limits, and the corrupting influence of free speech!

I’m sure he has many, many secret sympathizers in our Congress, and in the legislatures of our several states.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Congo-Brazzaville’s president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Nguesso, Africa, democracy, voting, elections, collage, photomontage, illustration, JimGill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

 

Categories
general freedom ideological culture national politics & policies political challengers porkbarrel politics too much government

Biden His Time

Joe Biden, president, election, nuzzle, statue of liberty, photomontage, collage, illustration, Jim Gill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

Vice-​President Joe Biden announced, yesterday, that he will not run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, ending many weeks of speculation.

The Veep’s exit from a race he never entered benefits Mrs. Clinton, who in those same polls has a larger lead head-​to-​head against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I‑Vt.).

Much of “Middle-​Class” Joe’s speech was the usual laundry list of progressive pie-​in-​the-​sky, money-​can-​too-​buy-​us-​love shibboleths:

  • “President Obama has led this nation from crisis to recovery, and we’re now on the cusp of resurgence.”
  • The public schools fail to adequately educate kids — at stupendous cost. Rather than innovate, Biden demands we “commit to 16 years of free public education for all of our children.”
  • Biden’s biggest pitch was for “a moon shot to cure cancer.” (Cancer will be cured … but not by politicians.)

Still, Joe voiced something other candidates fail to emphasize:

[W]e have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart.… I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our enemies. They are our opposition. They’re not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together.

That hasn’t been Hillary Clinton’s approach, having compared conservative Republicans to terrorist groups. Plus, to the question “Which enemy that you made during your political career are you most proud of?” she answered, “Republicans.”

“Four more years of this kind of pitched battle may be more than this country can take,” Joe Biden added.

I guess Joe’s not for Hillary.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Joe Biden, president, election, nuzzle, statue of liberty, photomontage, collage, illustration, Jim Gill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense

 

Categories
Accountability initiative, referendum, and recall responsibility

Democracy on the Sly

Citizens for Responsible Government, CAVE, CAVES , Mayor Sly James , Dan Coffey, Kansas City, JGill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense, collage, photomontage

Mayor Sly James loves his city: Kansas City, Missouri.

He dreams of a shining new airport on a hill, a land of milk and honey with a new, luxurious, taxpayer-​financed downtown hotel. He envisions it as a harmonious hub in which the thrill of … waiting for a richly subsidized streetcar is ubiquitous.

Yet, at every turn, a group of pesky citizens, Citizens for Responsible Government, has dashed the mayor’s dreams.

How?

  • A 2013 initiative petition drive blocked the $1.5 billion airport project.
  • Through a 2014 initiative effort, voters soundly defeated a streetcar expansion.
  • Weeks ago, this same rambunctious mob of retirees turned in enough signatures to force a public vote regarding the $311 million subsidy plan for a new downtown hotel.

“This is democracy at work,” claims Dan Coffey, serving as the group’s spokesperson.

For his part, the mayor offers, “I respect the people’s right to voice their opinion, but … I’m going to fight for this hotel deal.”

A man of principle!

Mayor Sly has taken to calling Coffey’s group CAVE — “Citizens Against Virtually Everything.” Coffey only notes that the mayor has left out a letter: the acronym should be CAVES — “Citizens Against Virtually Everything Stupid.”

“We started off a group of interested citizens that didn’t like the way things were going, particularly the way taxpayer money was being spent in Kansas City,” Coffey recently told the Kansas City Star. “Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.”

Coffey’s group has changed that dynamic … using direct democracy.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Citizens for Responsible Government, CAVE, CAVES , Mayor Sly James , Dan Coffey, Kansas City, JGill, Paul Jacob, Common Sense, collage, photomontage