Senator Robert Byrd has passed from this world, ending a 58-year perch in power, the longest stint in the entire history of Congress.

Politics isn’t a sport, though sometimes it’s blood-sport . . . thus there’s no jersey to retire.

So what do you offer to the memory of a man who in life already appropriated nearly everything possible? What’s the proper homage to the King of Pork?

Retire the earmark, once and for all.

Congress had a good run with earmarked pork barrel spending, and Byrd was that run’s poster boy. He had bridges named after him, highways and freeways and a stadium or two. Airports. Special rooms in the legislative wing. All paid for by taxpayers, most often funded by Congress through sneaking said projects into legislation without requiring a separate, conscious and above-board vote.

You might think it nicer, if not wiser, to commemorate the man for his habit of keeping a pocket Constitution on his person at all times. Or for his knowledge of history. Or arcane Senate rules. Certainly, it wouldn’t be polite to mention his “youthful” organizing of his state’s KKK.

But West Virginia’s senior senator was so closely associated with self-aggrandizing earmarked spending that no other honor comes close — we should push for a true monument to outshine all others. And that’s why I suggest cutting out the earmark.

Make the porkers squeal.

And let the tumult stand as a salute to Sen. Byrd.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Historians have noticed something interesting about the Great Depression: The bulk of Roosevelt’s New Deal money and effort wasn’t directed at the hardest-hit states. It was directed at swing states.

FDR’s New Deal could thus be seen as a vast re-election drive.

Economist Veronique de Rugy, of the Mercatus Center, recently testified before Congress about her studies of recent stimulus spending. She noticed that Democratic districts received bigger bucks than did Republican ones. Coincidence?

Nick Gillespie wrote about this on Reason magazine’s blog, Hit and Run. And, nestled in the comments section, is testimony from someone in the federal government about how stimulus money is actually spent. The government does not look for especially hard-hit areas. It looks for prospect projects that have been designed and engineered and ready to be funded to reach completion quickly.

This is useful to know. If believed, I’ll leave to you the explanation why Democratic Districts might be further along this pork-project train than Republican Districts. But it’s worth noting that this method does not really show any targeted expertise on the part of the federal government. It’s just a spend-and-spend-quickly program. Throw out enough dollars and hope something “sticks” . . . to produce real growth.

You see, this is nothing like how markets for capital projects work in the private sphere. And it’s nothing like a good way of jump-starting a wounded market economy.

It’s just government-mismanagement-as-usual.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

“Enough is enough.” We say that when we’ve had too much.

When do we reach enough government spending?

One way to figure this out would be to determine what is the real public interest and spend enough to cover that, and no more.

Take defense. A good diplomatic policy, backed by adequate military might, serves us all. We can argue what that good policy is, but we certainly don’t want more spending than required to serve said policy.

And yet, a much-ballyhooed current defense spending measure is laden with line-item spending projects that the Pentagon didn’t ask for.

President Obama, when he was a candidate, promised to crack down on such spending. It’s usually called “pork.” Unfortunately, politicians like pork.

A fascinating post on the USA Today website explains how our prez signed “a pork-laden spending bill left over from the previous year but vowed to be more vigilant going forward. Now, his administration is lauding a $636 billion defense spending bill, for the fiscal year that began Thursday, that includes $2.7 billion in earmarks” — including funding for destroyers and cargo planes the Pentagon didn’t ask for.

Such spending doesn’t serve us all. It serves a few, back home in some districts. And it helps re-elect their representatives.

All at our expense.

By definition, it’s more than enough. It’s too much.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

John Murtha, a Pennsylvania congressman going on 36 years, may be today’s uncrowned “king of pork.” Recently, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district.”

Murtha was responding to questions about the FBI, which is now looking into his “pattern of steering millions in earmarks to defense contractors who give to his campaign and hire his allies as lobbyists.”

In taking care of his district, Murtha takes care of himself, too. For instance, he has his own airport: the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

The airport has received over $200 million in federal tax money, most of it earmarked by Murtha. In addition to a big portrait of the congressman, the airport also has free parking and boasts “easy check-in.”

Of course, the airport hosts only three flights a day — all going to Washington, DC. A recent Washington Post report mentioned that there were seven TSA personnel screening the four passengers boarding with their six pieces of luggage.

Federal taxpayers also provided the airport an $8-million radar system back in 2004 — a system that has never been used.

In addition to Murtha’s numerous earmarks, the Murtha airport just got $800,000 in federal stimulus funds. Seems it was “shovel-ready.”

Yes, one needs a shovel for all the . . . well, you know.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Politicians in Washington constantly tell us we’re in a serious crisis. But if it’s as serious as our solons say, surely it’s affected their own behavior, right?

Many CEOs of bailed out companies have sacrificed their normal salaries, accepting pay of only $1 for this year.

Members of Congress? They gave themselves a pay raise.

CEOs have been attacked for using their corporate jets. Heads of Detroit automakers were so browbeaten that they actually drove to Washington to plead for bailouts. On the other hand, after obtaining and reviewing emails between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Air Force, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton says that “Speaker Pelosi treats the Air Force like her personal airline.”

But what about substance? Faced with tough times ahead and with taxpayers on the hook to pick up trillions in new spending, Congress might stop larding on extra pork, right?

Well, how important to our nation’s survival is a million dollars to study swine odor; $800,000 for oyster rehab; $200,000 for tattoo removal; $4 million to improve a street in Hattiesburg, Mississippi?

Leaders are supposed to lead. But, even in times of crisis, our so-called leaders can only follow their oldest habit: spend.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.