A recent study shows that men tend to react to holiday shopping as if they were soldiers fighting in a war, or police putting down a riot . . . that is, with extreme stress, high blood pressure, accelerated heart rates.

Maybe that’s why I usually wait so long to do my Christmas shopping. It’s just not healthy.

So, here comes Christmas, and I’m still thinking about my gift list. At the very top of my list is something I wish all Americans had: the right to vote on their own laws.

Yes, what I want most for citizens in every state is to get what only 24 states offer: initiative and referendum.

It’s no panacea. But it does enable “We the People” to nudge — even push — politicians. An amazing number of ballot measures in states with initiative rights have successfully reformed or limited government. Wouldn’t it be great to have that right everywhere?

I know, I know: Wishing for initiative and referendum everywhere is rather like wishing for World Peace. And yet . . . it’s not. We are Americans, and we can affect our own politics. We can tell our representatives that we simply won’t vote for them unless they pledge to give us legal rights to the initiative.

Sure, world peace would be even better. But we can’t control the world. We can, with effort, convince our very own elected politicians to give us a gift that, as they say, keeps on giving.

This is Common Sense. Happy Holidays. I’m Paul Jacob.

Complain, complain, complain. It’s gotten so bad that a billionaire, Warren Buffett, bemoans that he doesn’t pay enough in taxes.

And former President Clinton, after rewriting his history on Iraq, complains, “I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers.”

Clinton meant “by paying higher taxes.”

But taxes don’t have to be raised on everyone for Mr. Buffett or Mr. Clinton to make a contribution. It is perfectly legal to send the federal government more money than demanded in your tax bill. Really.

Make the check out to U.S. Treasury; mail it to Bureau of the Public Debt, Department G, P.O. Box 2188, Parkersburg, WV 26106.

If you want to pay higher taxes, you really can. Right now. No charge (so to speak).

So why doesn’t Buffett just send the government some extra dough? Does he really not know he can? He’s an awfully smart man. And Clinton must know that it is A-OK to give your government extra money.

Of course, the word “is” may have thrown him off a bit.

Meanwhile, Buffett and Clinton do give to various charities. Could it actually be that they think their dollars are better employed by private charities than spent by our diligent, conscientious servants in Washington?

Lots of Americans give to private charity, supporting people they believe to be doing good works. It feels good. No complaints.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Franklin Roosevelt said that “Nothing happens in politics by accident.” That sure was true of America’s independence, where people spoke out, got together, took action. Like Sam Adams, today known as the father of the American Revolution.

Don’t you wish we had people like old Sam living today? Well, we do. The Sam Adams Alliance is finding them and bringing them together to make government more accountable, to put citizens back in charge.

Now, at the end of its first year, the Alliance is recognizing some of these citizen leaders with awards dubbed The Sammies. For 2007:

• Ben Cunningham won a Sammie for his blog, Taxing Tennessee.
• Sal Costello won for best video satire with his film on Texas legislators turning highways into toll roads.
• Leon Drolet and the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance won for best video documentary, with their “Pig Protest” featuring a giant papier-mâché pink pig named Perks.
• Stephan Sharkansky won a Sammie for his work using open records to unearth government corruption, and informing the public on his Sound Politics blog.
• Working with Hoosiers for Fair Taxation, Melyssa Donaghy won the Tea Party award.
• And last, but certainly not least, Daniel Regenold and Jason Gloyd with Hamilton County, Ohio’s “We Demand” coalition, won the Modern-Day Sam Adams Award. They put a sales tax increase on the ballot and defeated it.

Many people know Sam Adams mainly as a very substantial beer. Now, here’s a toast to very substantial political activism!

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Slicing bread used to be a consumer activity. The consumer may have bought the loaf from the local baker, but the slicing of it was up to him. Sometimes one didn’t even bother taking out the knife . . . you just grabbed off a chunk. Hence the term “breaking bread.”

Pre-sliced bread sold at market is a development of later capitalism. It’s pretty neat, hence the expression “better than sliced bread.”

But here’s something worse than sliced bread: a political controversy. In Britain, the land that gave us the sandwich, the House of Lords has been listening to complaints about bread slice thickness. The Baroness Gardner of Parkes says that bread slices are getting thicker, and insists that thicker slices lead to thicker waists.

The Baroness asked “Why is it that in central London you can hardly find a thinly sliced or medium-sliced loaf of bread to buy, and any sandwich you buy in any supermarket is now made with thick bread?”

Now, I don’t know about you, or about London, but I do know that I have purchased thin-sliced bread recently. And thick-sliced, too.

I notice that it is traditional to slice the tougher, mealier breads thicker than the Wonder Bread varieties. And it is known that the thicker, less processed breads are better for you.

We’re all free to have our own opinion about the proper thickness of bread. But best of all would be to keep politicians, and any leftover royalty, out of the issue of bread thickness. No matter how you slice it.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

On November 14, Liberty Services, an Evansville, Indiana firm was victimized by a break-in. According to founder Bernard von NotHaus, the gang took everything but desks and chairs.

No ordinary burglars did this. It was government agents. Targeting a firm that dared to provide an inflation-proof safeguard against government money. Liberty’s latest offering was a Ron Paul silver dollar.

According to a leaked affidavit, Liberty Services is being investigated for “uttering coins of gold, silver, or other metal,” or “making or possessing likeness of coins.” Mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy are the types of charges being bandied about. The affidavit says the company’s goal is to “undermine the United States government’s financial systems by the issuance of a non-governmental competing currency for the purpose of repealing the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code.”

Sounds like thought-crime.

Liberty Services has been in business for years. The first Liberty Dollars were sold in 1998. NotHaus has sought to ensure that his company complies with relevant law. Andrew Williams, a spokesman for the Fed, has told the firm that “no law . . . says goods and services must be paid for with Federal Reserve notes. Parties entering into a transaction can establish any medium of exchange that is agreed upon.”

So why the raid now? What real crime has Liberty Services committed? Aside from inflation-proofing their clients? Maybe in court the government will have to say.

Meanwhile, Mr. NotHaus could use some help. To learn more, visit libertydollar.org.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.