Year: 2008

Categories
local leaders

Farewell, Freedom’s Champions

As we enter a new year, I’d like to remember all the wonderful souls who have passed from this world in 2008.

In politics, it’s easy to look on the bleak side. Yet, I’m hopeful for our republic, believing that “yes, we can” protect freedom.

One reason? The example set by several men who died this year, men who believed in doing what they thought was right, who stood up for justice and truth. Men I respect.

Marshall Fritz, who founded Advocates for Self-Government, was a man of boundless energy and good cheer.

William F. Buckley, who I had the privilege of meeting in 1988 when Ron Paul ran for President on the Libertarian Party ticket and I got to accompany him to tape Buckley’s Firing Line program.

Allan Schmid passed away just weeks ago. Folks outside of Michigan may not know the name, but Al was one of the first proponents of term limits. He also pushed for tax limitation. He was a good and great man. Al’s son, Greg Schmid, continues his legacy of actively defending liberty.

Paul Weyrich, a conservative exemplar, died just before Christmas. Paul was very kind to me when I came to Washington in 1991. He provided sage advice to the term limits movement, and was one of the first conservatives to realize the importance of the voter initiative process. Paul never traded principle for political expedience.

Thank you, kind gentlemen, for the examples you set.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
judiciary

Help Is Not on the Way

Think twice before you save people about to lose their lives, at least if you live in California.

The state supreme court there just ruled that good Samaritans can be held liable if they cause or aggravate an injury while rendering emergency help if that help is not medical.

A 1980 California law protects persons who render emergency aid from just such liability. But in a recent decision, the high court divined that this protection only pertains to “medical” care.

Therefore, Lisa Torti is liable for damages for pulling her coworker, Alexandra Van Horn, out of a car wreck in 2004. Van Horn became a paraplegic as a result of the accident. Ms. Torti did not cause the crash, but she was reluctant to stand by to witness her friend die should the car explode.

In his dissent, Justice Marvin Baxter observes that the perverse result of the ruling is that a person “who dives into swirling waters to retrieve a drowning swimmer can be sued for incidental injury he or she causes while bringing the victim to shore, but is immune for harm he or she produces while thereafter trying to revive the victim.”

So, hide your identity when you rescue people in California. That way, when you save somebody’s life and he yells, “Who was that masked man? Because I want to sue!” — he’ll be out of luck.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Accountability insider corruption

Congress Hikes Pay!

Shocking news: Congressional leaders demand to be paid just one dollar a year! Thus they acknowledge their own flagrant irresponsibility in causing the economic crisis.

According to congressional leaders (and I quote), “Our mammoth fiscal irresponsibility is the single biggest culprit in all this, not counting the easy-credit policies of the Fed. We pretended we could spend and tax and regulate like there was no tomorrow, demand easy-loan terms to bad credit risks, etc., with no bad consequences. Just get something for nothing. Boy, were we wrong! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!”

Yeah, right. That’ll be the day. Congress may demand that CEOs schlepping to Washington for handouts get paid just a dollar a year, but the congressmen themselves won’t even freeze their own pay.

Of course, many of them should be resigning. Instead, they have quietly, not to say furtively, allowed an automatic pay raise to go forward, the so-called Cost of Living Adjustment.

Representative Harry Mitchell sponsored a bill to prevent the automatic pay raise from happening in 2009. But it never escaped committee. As Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense points out, things are “wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise.” So add another $4,700 to the average congressional salary. Meaning they’ll make $174,000 beginning this January.

Because they’re doing such a swell job, right?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
government transparency

We’re Number Two

Congratulations to Champaign County, Illinois, for having the second-best website vis-à-vis being open about government doings. The recognition comes from Sunshine Review, a project of the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance.

But, before we break out the champagne, how come Champaign County is only number two in the rankings? Simple. The number-one site is published by DuPage County, a much larger county with presumably a lot more resources.

Champaign County no longer prints dead-tree copies of its budget. It posts the entire 500-page document online, along with labor contracts, meeting agendas, and even audio recordings of some meetings.

They’re doing a great job. And with 102 counties in the state, they must have had a lot of competition, right? Well . . . not exactly. According to Sunshine Review, 42 Illinois counties don’t even have a website. Of those that do, 27 don’t post meeting schedules or minutes. More than 40 don’t disclose budget and audit info.

Sunshine’s Isabel Santa says there’s “no excuse for a county not to have a website. One of the key things Champaign is doing is providing budgets and audits, and that’s what people want to know, where their tax dollars go.”

Once Sunshine assesses the transparency of Illinois government entities, it plans to tackle the rest of the states. Don’t wait, officials. Get those sites functional right now. Let the people know what you’re up to openly and
honestly.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Common Sense general freedom national politics & policies too much government

Santa Speaks Out

Oh, sure, he’s a jolly old elf most of the time. But just ask Mrs. Claus: He’s got a temper.

Not long ago, I compared Congress to Santa Claus, because both hand out lots of goodies. Well, Santa was not amused.

“How in the name of the North Pole can you compare me with the politicians in Congress?” he wanted to know. “My elves and I produce our presents ourselves and we make a list so they go to the nice people. The Congress takes from others and often gives the loot to folks who are naughty.”

He’s got a point. And who wants to argue with Santa this time of year? Then there was the flap in Kensington, Maryland, where the long tradition of Santa lighting the town tree was ended after complaints from families who don’t celebrate Christmas.

Santa called and I was ready for an earful. But Santa wasn’t mad at the families who complained or the town officials. “Christmas is my holiday,” Santa said calmly, “and I’ll not let anyone turn it into something that’s forced on people. That’s not my style. I don’t want anyone forced to pay taxes against their will to celebrate Christmas. And that’s what’s been going on in this little town.

“I don’t need any government mandates; after all, hundreds of people in Santa suits brought their own holiday cheer to the Kensington tree lighting. The spirit of Christmas is something you give, not something you take. Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
initiative, referendum, and recall

Something for All Seasons

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 again 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: Voter 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 process.

Sure, world peace would be 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. It’s called initiative and referendum.

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