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Paul Jacob is president of Citizens in Charge, a non-profit, non-partisan group working to protect and expand voter initiative rights, and the Citizens in Charge Foundation, a charitable foundation conducting research on the initiative process, educating the public and litigating to defend the petition rights of Americans.
“The best way to assure freedom of expression, no matter where it may be threatened,” Pulitzer-prize winning columnist, Paul Greenberg, wrote recently, “would be to have an army of utterly determined Paul Jacobs fighting for it.”
For more than a decade, Paul was the term limits movement’s leading voice, running U.S. Term Limits, the nation’s largest such group. For his work to bring term limits to Congress, columnist Robert Novak good-naturedly called Jacob “the most hated man in Washington.”
Campaigning for term limits, as well as for spending caps, property rights measures and candidate ballot access, Paul has been involved in over 175 statewide petition drives.
Currently, Paul Jacob hosts Common Sense, an online, radio, and print opinion program, which reaches tens of thousands of e-mail subscribers and is aired daily by more than 125 radio stations nationwide. Paul writes a weekly column for Townhall.com that appears each Sunday.
His writing has also been featured in USA Today, The Washington Times, The New York Daily News, Roll Call, Human Events, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Examiner and other publications. He has appeared on numerous television programs and is a consistent guest on talk radio.
Paul has been named “a rising star in politics” by Campaigns & Elections magazine, received the Society for Individual Liberty’s “Phoenix Award” for “contributions to the advancement of liberty in America,” and was dubbed one of “The Best and the Rightest” by National Journal.
Paul lives with his wife Rhonda and their three children in Woodbridge, Virginia.
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Paul Jacob (Dec 26, 2004)
Apparently, my county doesn't have much class. In fact, we in Prince William County, Virginia, have so little class that we're actually having to import some. From overseas.... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 19, 2004)
Politicians are suffering. And last October former Florida Supreme Court justice and sometime lobbyist Wade Hopping was hopping mad about it.
The trouble? Term limits. They... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 12, 2004)
They dominate the news media, Hollywood and academia. They teach us, tell us the news, show us their documentaries, television programs and movies. And yet, they can't get us... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 05, 2004)
The end is near. Well, the end of the year is near. So it's time to ape Dave Letterman's favorite bit and construct a Top Ten list. I'm working on mine: a Top Ten List of The... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 28, 2004)
There is no such thing as a free . . . ride. Washington, D.C.'s transit system, known as Metro, provides ample proof.
Years ago, when friends or relatives would visit and... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 21, 2004)
The most important news story of this fall, ultimately more important than the re-election of the president, was the awarding of the X Prize to Burt Rutan for his... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 14, 2004)
There's nothing wrong with questioning the standards that are set for any endeavor, for any area of human activity whatsoever ? especially when it concerns our kids. Rules... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 07, 2004)
The media kept telling us that support for term limits was waning. But apparently voters didn't get the memo.
Throughout the year, a steady stream of newspaper articles... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 31, 2004)
What? You don't have your own attorney on retainer? How on earth do you plan to take part in our elections, then?
Perhaps, in the throes of this nasty season, we should... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 24, 2004)
Every time I flush the toilet, I think of Congress.
Well, that's not quite right. Every time I have to flush twice, I think of Congress.
It's been over a decade now that... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 17, 2004)
There's something rotten in Denmark. And I catch a whiff of something similarly unpleasant here in a America, too.
It's this idea that everything good must be somehow... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 10, 2004)
No matter who wins the presidency, we've already lost the Congress.
I don't mean as Republicans, or Democrats, but as Americans. And I don't mean on election day, because... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 03, 2004)
Our national pastime has become a national indecency.
Granted, there are things worse than a public indecency: tragedies, atrocities, high crimes. But still, public... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 26, 2004)
One of the profoundest explanations of freedom does not contain the word "freedom."
Or "liberty."
But it does reference the human schnozz:
The right to swing my fist... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 19, 2004)
A uniter, not a divider? Until genocidal aliens arrive from outer space, any program that unites will divide, too. Example? Term limits.
This reform certainly unites many... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 12, 2004)
Politicians love the people, at least for these couple of months during election years. The rest of the time they merely put up with us, spend our money, and try to cope with... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 05, 2004)
For a while there the presidential race seemed pleasantly nostalgic. We read about where the Kerry bus stopped, where Bush spoke, which towns the two almost met in. You felt... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 29, 2004)
As the summer ends, here's hoping you and your family were able to find the time and money to take a vacation and get away from it all. Yet, forgive the good citizens of... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 22, 2004)
Why do career politicians even bother with elections? Well, increasingly they don't.
After all, to professional politicians, elections are dangerous events that place their... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 15, 2004)
New Jersey Governor James McGreevey surprised his state and the nation, announcing that "My truth is that I am a gay American." With this statement and his resignation,... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 08, 2004)
Our first election without the First Amendment is, as Alice put it, "getting curiouser and curiouser."
The Boss has become a major player. Bruce Springsteen, that is, has... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 01, 2004)
After the first weeks and months of furor over the Abu Ghraib prison revelations, after the official protestations of innocence and shock, and after Congress did its bit in... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 25, 2004)
If I didn't live in Virginia, I would find its state legislature much more amusing.
Earlier this year, our experienced legislators passed a $1.3 billion dollar tax... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 18, 2004)
The sun is shining. The corn is growing in Iowa; there's rice in Arkansas; Idaho soil is preparing to offer up plenty of spuds. And in hot and muggy Washington, D.C., we can... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 11, 2004)
The future of America does not hinge on the outcome of this August's primary election for tax collector in Seminole County, Florida. But then again, maybe in a way it does.... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 04, 2004)
What kind of government do we have? Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether Americans had a monarchy or... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 27, 2004)
Two weeks ago, in my column "About-face up north," I discussed a recent poll of Canadians that showed surprising, majority support for establishing a "two-tiered" medical... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 20, 2004)
Somewhere a career politician is scheming...
But at least there are four career politicians in California whose schemes are coming to an end. They wanted to get term... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 13, 2004)
While many Americans look to Canada for solutions to our health care mess, Canadians, in increasing numbers, look southward, to us.
Canada's National Post recently reported... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 06, 2004)
We often speak of "the Real World," we who talk about politics. (At least I do.) And we aren't talking about the workings of our government, though our government is All Too... more
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Paul Jacob (May 30, 2004)
In politics, everything is a fight. Take pocketing $75 million of our tax dollars ? the public pay-out to finance the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and George W. Bush.... more
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Paul Jacob (May 23, 2004)
Mention initiative, referendum, and recall to political insiders and you'll hear a one-word rebuttal: California! California politics is almost universally portrayed as,... more
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Paul Jacob (May 16, 2004)
Wars can be lost on the battlefield, but not completely won there. That's because war, as the Prussian military strategist Karl von Clausewitz wrote, "is the continuation of... more
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Paul Jacob (May 09, 2004)
Were terrorists to wipe out most of the Congress, how would republican government survive? Some fear the current plan to elect new congressmen won't work. The ensuing... more
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Paul Jacob (May 03, 2004)
"They had a gun to our head. They took hostages, and they promised to start shooting." This is not the complaint of a victim of a horrible crime -- unless democracy is a... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 25, 2004)
According to some leading journalists and consumer activists, ABC's news division suffers from a major problem: John Stossel. He used to be such a good consumer reporter,... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 18, 2004)
When it comes to the real issues in Congress, there is only one. Day after day, year after year, the issue is how to divvy up the body politic as fat slabs of pork.
In the... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 11, 2004)
Americans are a do-it-yourself people. We figure out how things work. We fix things. Well, not me ? but my wife and most people.
But there's one thing we can't seem to fix.... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 04, 2004)
You?ve probably never heard of Jack Adsit, but he?s one of my heroes. He?s a veteran of ?the big one?--World War II--and traces his lineage all the way back to Adsits, a... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 28, 2004)
It's an election year, so we can expect a lot of nonsense. But more important than "who said what" and "what did he know and when did he know it" are the more general myths... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 21, 2004)
Cozying up to Florida legislators, the Florida Chamber of Commerce is agitating to take initiative rights away from Florida voters.
Otherwise, the Chamber warns, disaster... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 14, 2004)
Politics, we are told, makes for strange bedfellows. But the orgy of bad policy that erupts out of legislative assemblies around the country stretches the metaphor. None more... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 07, 2004)
The oldest legislature in the nation, the Virginia General Assembly, is a tax and budget train-wreck. It is also Exhibit A in the case against the politicians who have... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 29, 2004)
Nader's back, spoiling again. That's the story according to Democrats, at least. But exactly what is Nader spoiling? John Kerry's latest makeover?
Nader damages Kerry more... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 22, 2004)
Like most modern corporations, Buick has a slogan: The Spirit of American Style. Like most corporate slogans, it is nearly vacuous: do Buicks show any more American style... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 15, 2004)
The world is full of dictators. Fidel Castro comes to mind. After more than four decades of iron-fisted rule, he is still tossing pro-democracy activists into prison for the... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 08, 2004)
Oh, great and mighty Federal Communications Commission, save us from the evils of our culture. Police the airwaves so that 280 million Americans see and hear only what we... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 01, 2004)
Gravediggers have a maxim that every politician should ponder: Never dig a hole deeper than you can climb out of.
Since politicians are usually pretty keen on their own... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 25, 2004)
As the New Hampshire Primary looms, and her husband?s campaign continues to slip, ordinary Americans are quietly hoping she will pick up the torch and enter the fray. If a... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 18, 2004)
Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Meet Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the powerful Chairman of the Senate Appropriations... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 11, 2004)
You should sit down to read this. I have a confession to make. I?m a democrat. Don?t scream. Capitalization is rather important here. I?m a small "d" democrat.
You didn?t... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 04, 2004)
Volunteers! Hundreds of them! Each email streaming into my inbox carrying along with it the voice of yet another American citizen speaking out on the military draft. I hadn?t... more