In charity, as well as business and politics, it takes vision to do great things. The other day I praised Bill Gates’s visionary philanthropy. Now, for balance, let’s take a look at Gates’s partner at Microsoft, Paul Allen, whose daring investments and cautious charities inspire.

Recently, however, he’s been making his mark not only beyond American borders, but above the planet. He’s financing a private rocket plane to compete with government-funded efforts. On June 20th, aerospace engineer Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, funded by Paul Allen and piloted by Michael Melvill, rocketed into suborbital space and returned safely to the ground.

This is a milestone, and promises to fulfill a dream for a lot of people people who look to business, not government, to provide for our civilization’s basic needs, like communications satellites. And, hey space travel, too! I’ll certainly be following the progress of this effort. And basking in the group’s vision. I think we should acknowledge where some of Allen’s vision comes from: his love of science fiction.

He started reading Robert Heinlein as a kid, and to this day reads new authors as well as his favorite, the great prose stylist Jack Vance. He recently funded a science fiction museum in Seattle. In science fiction, businessmen often do world-shaking things.

In real life, businessmen usually don’t seem so heroic. But let’s not say anything negative now: it’s great to see greatness when it bursts into the sky. And returns back safely.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Back in February, I called on three-term Connecticut Governor John Rowland to resign. But the career politician refused to step down, not even after it was shown that he had accepted gifts a new kitchen, a hot tub, Cuban cigars, and a Mustang convertible from special interests doing business with the state. Gifts he originally lied about receiving. Not even after polls showed only about one in ten voters still trusted the governor.

But now, after dragging the state through six months of turmoil, Mr. Rowland has resigned. It’s not that he wanted to save the people of Connecticut from this scandal. Fat chance. Rather, Rowland felt the heat the heat of a state impeachment trial as well as a federal probe into his corrupt practices. Rowland never apologized. Not for his crimes, not for his immoralities.

When the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the governor would have to testify before the legislative impeachment hearings, Rowland is said to have feared that his statements could then be used as evidence against him on federal corruption charges. As Arthur Paulson, a professor of political science at Southern Connecticut State University, put it, “The political problem for the governor is that he had to think about himself as a federal defendant rather than a sitting governor.” He added, “His decision to resign didn’t have a tinker’s damn to do with the good of the state.”

Well, at least Rowland’s decisions are consistent. Most states do not allow any person to serve three terms. Maybe Governor Rowland is really a victim a victim of not having term limits.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

A.D. 2004 marks the first time politically active American citizens had to wonder whether they could say the name of a congressman or a presidential candidate without fear of criminal prosecution. With Michael Moore’s “Farenheit 9/11″ hitting theaters, this issue has hit the fans.

Will movies soon be regulated so that no candidate for federal office is named in any film or in commercials for the film? If you think this is far-fetched, you don’t appreciate the new world of government-regulated speech. A group called Citizens United has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, saying that ads for Moore’s movie are “electioneering communications” that violate the McCain-Feingold law.

The group’s press release says, “Moore has publicly indicated his goal is to impact this election season.” Moreover, the movie distributors are indeed longtime Democratic donors. In his own defense, Moore says, “I have not endorsed Kerry. I am an independent, I am not a member of the Democratic Party.” Absurd! Are those who have endorsed a candidate or joined a political party no longer free to make movies, write books, speak their minds? Many supporters of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law see the attempt to regulate movies as beyond the pale. But they themselves should pale.

The McCain-Feingold law, if it is to be applied equally, will necessarily stretch the long arm of Congress into every mode of communication imaginable. That’s the way the law was written. Let’s hope this first post-First Amendment election will also be our last .

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

You don’t have to be a Republican to admire Dr. Tom Coburn. Do you admire people who keep their word? Then tip your hat to Coburn. He had pledged to limit his own terms when he first ran for Congress back in the mid-’90s, and he did, retiring in 2000. Even during his three terms in office, he kept up his obstetrics practice in Muskogee. So “retirement” was simply from politics.

He has always been busy. And funny thing is, from the first days of his first term, he didn’t meekly stay in the background, “learning and watching and waiting.” Nope. He got involved. He relentlessly criticized pork-barrel spending. He piped up for Medicare and Social Security reform at every chance. Though anti-term limiters say it takes a long time for representatives to learn the ropes, Coburn showed how quickly a smart, honest man can catch on, even beating some of his opponents into the ropes.

When he bowed out, anti-term limiters were probably as relieved as I was impressed. But now he’s back, running for the U.S. Senate. Term limits needn’t keep a good man out of politics forever. And he’s already stirring up a ruckus. It is obvious, Bob Novak remarks, that “Tom Coburn is not running to be the most popular senator.” Indeed, some Republicans hate the doctor. Why? Coburn argues that “moral corruption” is “now attempting to undermine our republic.” And that corruption, Coburn suggests, is bi-partisan. Which is why true, small-r republicans of all parties watch his race with interest.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The Queen of England is celebrating her 50th year on the throne. But I can’t get very excited about this jubilee event trumpeting the British monarchy. Oh, sure, Elizabeth seems like a nice enough lady and all that, but I can’t abide kings and queens, royalty of any kind, the very idea of it.

This radio program is entitled Common Sense, a title I borrowed from my long-deceased friend Tom Paine. Tom Paine’s pamphlets “Common Sense” and “The Crisis” were widely circulated throughout the colonies during the American Revolutionary War and kept the public’s morale high. Many historians say he did as much as any man could with paper and ink to win America’s freedom.

Paine hated all monarchy everywhere in the world. Especially King George III. He once called King George a “stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man.” And Paine wrote that “Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families.” Paine agreed with the sentiment from the French Revolution, “Kings are in the moral order what monsters are in the physical.”

Sure, I know the queen is popular, and she doesn’t seem like a monster but what she represents is monstrous. So like Tom Paine, I’m not interested in hearing about the British monarchy. Call me a party-pooper, but I’m glad we threw the British monarchy out of our country a long time ago. Now, if we could just get them off our TV sets too.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.