I was up late one night, with the TV on for company, when he came on. If you’ve ever seen him, you know who I’m talking about. The strange-looking dude who keeps shouting that there is “free money to pay your bills” from various government grants, if you just call and get his book. I call him “Question-Mark Man,” because he wears bright clothes with question marks all over them. He’s a bit questionable. His name is Matthew Lesko.

Now, I’m not a big believer in free money. So my advice is not to call Mr. Lesko and not to send away for the information on how to get all that free money from Uncle Sam. I don’t claim to be objective, mind you; I pay taxes and hope folks won’t pile on.

Of course, Question-Mark Man would remind you that if you don’t grab the money, someone else will make off with it. In other words, everybody is doing it. Your mother never thought much of that argument, but it has certainly become a staple of modern life and especially modern politics. I also hope it’s not quite as easy as Matthew Lesko shrieks it is to actually get checks from the federal government to pay your rent and the phone bill.

Yet, the fact that the weird guy wearing question marks on television hasn’t been sued for false advertising or arrested for fraud does raise some troubling questions. Who is really crazier? This Matthew Lesko, screeching that there is money growing on trees in Washington, or the politicians who are busy tacking it on to the branches?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.