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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 25, 2005)
Today, I revel in the peacefulness of Christmas, or at least the joy of being with my family. Tomorrow, the celebration of Chanukah begins for my Jewish friends. For this... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 18, 2005)
You can't step into the same Wikipedia twice. That's what Heraclitus said about rivers. I bring this up to put the recent Wikipedia scandal in perspective. Wikipedia, the... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 11, 2005)
Who's in charge, here? Politicians sometimes pretend it's the people, but that fine old republican notion gets lost in their actions. Consider the way so many politicians... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 04, 2005)
Do you want to make politics illegal? Should our opponents be blocked from democratic participation? Must those who agitate for ideas that we disagree with be silenced?... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 27, 2005)
There's a certain type of "activist judge" everybody seems to like. One's in the news right now, defending kittens. I've heard such judges praised across the... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 20, 2005)
Some folks don't like Wal-Mart. Okay. Fine. It's a free country. No one should be forced at gunpoint to shop at Wal-Mart. Or to work there. And no one is. That's what a free... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 13, 2005)
We have more to fear from a crisis than the crisis itself. For what are the politicians going to do?Regarding economic policy, the answer is . . . In a crisis, if a major... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 06, 2005)
An editorial in yesterday's New York Times bemoaned the number of citizen initiatives that will be on state ballots this Tuesday. The Times fears that all this... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 30, 2005)
Once after comparing big spending congressmen to drunken sailors, Ronald Reagan apologized to the sailors; they at least spent their own money. He could have added that... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 23, 2005)
It would be nice if we could blame it all on muddle. It would be nice if government grows because everything's so complex that muddle begets muddle, and governments balloon... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 16, 2005)
Each year, malaria ravages the lives of 500 million people worldwide, causing more than a million deaths, most of them children, mostly in Africa. But not in the United... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 09, 2005)
"Trust me," Lucy says to Charlie Brown, holding the football . . . "Trust me," says President Bush in defense of his nomination of the virtually... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 02, 2005)
The target's been chosen: term limits. The gun's being waved around, too. And there's a bullet in the Chamber. Well, in Michigan's Chamber of Commerce. Seems that the Chamber... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 25, 2005)
James Madison, father of our U.S. Constitution, must be rolling over in his grave. You see, he forgot to put love in it.
By congressional edict, schools and... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 18, 2005)
Hurricane Katrina was so powerful it brought LBJ back from the grave.
Well, actually not President Lyndon Baines Johnson himself; it's his "War on Poverty" that's... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 11, 2005)
Have you heard the rumor yet? Oil companies are destroying fuel — emptying, even, gallons and gallons into thirsty desert sands — so that they can keep prices high at the... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 04, 2005)
Washington delivers man-made disasters every day. Thank goodness nature's destructive handiwork occurs less frequently.
It has been heart-rending to watch our fellow... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 28, 2005)
Ready for your flight? Got your ticket? Your government-issued photo ID? An ice pick?
Truth is stranger than fiction. The 9/11 hijackers are believed to have used box... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 21, 2005)
When playing cowboys and Indians as a kid, I always wanted to be the Indian. Little did I know.
Back then, I thought pretending to be an Indian was neat, even better... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 14, 2005)
"Common sense," goes the old saying, "is not so common." Is this just cynicism? If so, why does it describe our political culture so well?
In governments across the... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 07, 2005)
Let's count our blessings. Congress is out of session. The men and women of Congress did their damage, sure enough, but at least during these hot, sticky days of... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 31, 2005)
My mother reads this column. So, trust me, I don't plan to talk about sex toys any more than I have to. I'm no expert on the subject, either. But I do know they're not worth... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 24, 2005)
Just when the nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court was looking sure and civil, Senate Democrats have found a way to smear him. Yes, it now appears West... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 17, 2005)
For July 4th, Independence Day, NASA sponsored a unique fireworks display. America's space agency shot and hit a comet with a rocket. Or, as they like to say, a probe. The... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 10, 2005)
Irish rocker Bob Geldorf and the music superstars who recently held Live 8 concerts across the globe made a lot of noise. Their siren songs entreated us to pressure the... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 03, 2005)
She was the best of justices; she was the worst of justices . . . Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring from the Supreme Court, leaving behind a mixed record and a bitter battle... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 26, 2005)
It's like a bad dream, or a summer disaster movie. But this is real. We live under a regime that can and often does grab our homes and small businesses to create what... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 26, 2005)
It's like a bad dream, or a summer disaster movie. But this is real. We live under a regime that can and often does grab our homes and small businesses to create what... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 19, 2005)
Canada is not a communist country. Really, it's not ? except when it comes to medical care.
While some Americans argue that our health care system should be copying... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 12, 2005)
Want a depressing read, hot for summer? Try Justice John Paul Stevens's decision in Gonzales v. Raich. In that long document, the majority of the Supreme Court ruled against... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 05, 2005)
Voters animated by moral and religious values made a difference in the last election, returning Republican George W. Bush to the White House. Some say they made the decisive... more
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Paul Jacob (May 29, 2005)
What does Beijing have in common with Portland, Oregon? Urban congestion. It's much worse in Beijing, but Portland's traffic congestion isn't getting any better. Further,... more
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Paul Jacob (May 22, 2005)
When I think about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I can't help but think of Pravda, the official newspaper and mouthpiece of the Communist Party back in the days of... more
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Paul Jacob (May 15, 2005)
An aging pope, holding on to little more than life itself, did not impress everyone. Not a few Catholics ? and probably many more non-Catholics ? nurtured the opinion that... more
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Paul Jacob (May 08, 2005)
On a quiet spring morning, they're working in Washington. Working hard, as the president would say. Working hard to regulate, burden, and impede your right to communicate... more
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Paul Jacob (May 01, 2005)
The making of law, like the making of sausage, is said to be necessarily messy. I'm not so sure. Not all sausages are equal. Neither are laws. Or lawmakers. Some are less... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 24, 2005)
Democrat to "stay" democratic, that would be one thing. But you can't, they don't, so let's move on, vigilant. Without vigilance citizens haven't a ghost of a chance.)... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 17, 2005)
The police are there to protect us. Maybe.
Unfortunately, a dominant strain of contemporary police culture wants citizens to limit their involvement in their own... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 10, 2005)
Dr. Tom Coburn, late of the House of Representatives, citizen of Oklahoma, now senator from his state, is a controversial enough figure by himself. Contrast him with the rest... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 03, 2005)
Though March is gone, the madness of the NCAA basketball tournament continues this weekend with the Final Four. Yet, lost in all that fun madness is this scandal: According... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 27, 2005)
Term limits aren't just for the U.S. President and legislatures in 15 states. They deserve to be extended, even to the Supreme Court.
Why?
Many reasons have been offered.... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 20, 2005)
To allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or not? It is an easy question for Senator John F. Kerry . . . because he's magic!
Magic in what way, you ask?... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 13, 2005)
In this time of mindless speculation about 2008's presidential candidates, I remain untroubled by the fact that no one has mentioned my name. I know it is due simply to my... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 06, 2005)
The latest Social Security debate is over whether the problem with the system amounts to a crisis or is "just a problem."
It sure seemed like a crisis the way former... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 27, 2005)
First, the stab of an ominous headline: "First Amendment No Big Deal, Students Say." Then the subhead twists the knife: "Study shows American teenagers indifferent to... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 23, 2005)
If it were true, snorted the still smug monarch, "Then Washington is the greatest man in the world."
And it was true.
George Washington had just led the rag-tag American... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 13, 2005)
In the Gambling Capital of America, Las Vegas, Nevada, a professor of economics is being hounded by the city's proud university, his employer. The university's bureaucracy... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 06, 2005)
Ideas a-plenty are bouncing around on how to improve education. Take, for instance, the recent suggestion of doing away with homework. Alas! I was born too soon.
One... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 30, 2005)
Senator Chris Beutler doesn't get it. He's not alone. Many politicians in other districts in other states similarly don't get it.
"I still don't understand," Beutler... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 23, 2005)
If my daughter runs off with a fellow named Clyde and starts shooting up banks, I'll know I made a terrible mistake ? as my wife will no doubt remind me.
Call me a "gun... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 16, 2005)
Ideally, news should "slant" to the truth. Practically, the presentation of news usually skews towards sensationalism. As news consumers, we accept this, though too rarely... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 09, 2005)
Journalists do not need an ideological bias to misreport the news. Their simple preference for a good story by itself can lead to error. Just look at environmental reporting.... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 02, 2005)
'Tis been the season of presents, rewards, awards. Now political awards?
Often, awards in politics are suspect. I remember the local pol who won an award as a champion of... more