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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.
By
Paul Jacob (Dec 26, 2010)
Obama is in the White House and all is right with the world.
According to media far and wide, this is the upshot of the Presidents post-Election Day shellacking... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 19, 2010)
Everybody hates Tim Eyman.
Thats what you might think if you spent too much time listening to politicians in his home state of Washington, or perusing ill-mannered... more
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Paul Jacob (Dec 12, 2010)
Sometimes we feel bad after an election because weve lost. Other times, we feel bad even when weve won.
Today is one of those other times. Dont get me... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 28, 2010)
In Washington, we can always expect the triumph of symbolism over substance, the emblematic turkey over the actual Meleagris gallopavo. Even when it comes to something as... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 21, 2010)
The biggest welfare state program is not a giveaway. Almost no one thinks of it as state aid or political charity. Most Americans think of it as their... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 14, 2010)
Are Tea Party Republicans gearing up to fail just like the Democrats did?
Republicans say they want less government, but the best they have ever done is to... more
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Paul Jacob (Nov 07, 2010)
Now that Tea Party activists have swung an election, not merely to the Republicans, but to a certain brand of Republicans — those apparently committed to opposing... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 31, 2010)
After next Tuesdays election, Republicans will be the ultimate political power in the universe — or, at least, in the United States of America. That is, if GOP... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 24, 2010)
In the words of an old song, were forever blowing bubbles.
Fearing deflation and falling prices and general sluggishness (three things that need not go... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 17, 2010)
When compiling the numerous and monstrous advantages of incumbency, a friend argues that one should not forget to add the entire federal budget to the equation.
He has a... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 10, 2010)
This November, voters in four states will see ballot measures seeking to place a right to hunt and fish into their constitutions. In three of those states, the issues are... more
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Paul Jacob (Oct 03, 2010)
You can send a message to the mainstream media about the importance of rewarding whats right, instead of whats wrong. Its really easy. Tomorrow night,... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 26, 2010)
Republicans may sweep into a congressional majority this November.
Will it matter?
Considering that our current ills began long before President Obama and the... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 19, 2010)
Reactions to The Contract With America, New Gingrichs pledge and organizing principle for the Revolution of 1994, were not all positive. Indeed, the usual... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 12, 2010)
Its funny because its true. Im not sure that this exactly amounts to a law of humor. Many things are funny and they arent true. And... more
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Paul Jacob (Sep 05, 2010)
Years ago, my wife and I recounted our early public school experiences to our children. My wife boasted that she finished her schoolwork before her classmates and then got to... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 29, 2010)
When I think back to my parents dinner table, when my five siblings and I were growing up, food just isnt my main memory. More fondly, I recall the consistent and... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 22, 2010)
Taxation has a tendency to sink into the arbitrary.
Its fairly easy to tax, by simple percentage of price, items that are exchanged for money at discrete moments in... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 15, 2010)
Fighting three ethics charges, Congresswoman Maxine Waters now performs her most important public service, illustrating modern national governance in a way that is clear and... more
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Paul Jacob (Aug 08, 2010)
Do you trust the people?
We had barely been seated at the restaurant when my guest fired off his query. I had asked him to lunch after a state capitol event,... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 25, 2010)
Does your city manager make $800,000 a year? Before you answer, you might want to check. Maybe file an open records request with your city.
You might get the same... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 18, 2010)
Its hot this summer, with public anger toward Washington — the White House, Congress, Democrats, Republicans — bubbling up like an asphalt parking... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 11, 2010)
Theres nothing so terrible as a bad idea whos time has come.
In 1929, the idea was protectionism. Against the overwhelming advice of economists, Republicans in... more
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Paul Jacob (Jul 04, 2010)
Sometimes the word is the deed.
To say I promise is to promise.
To say I am free is to stand up for yourself, to take the first step... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 27, 2010)
It is an anniversary one does not celebrate, but mourn. The pain is still fresh — piercing and overwhelming for the loved ones of the nine Washington, D.C.-area... more
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Paul Jacob (Jun 20, 2010)
The few
remaining newspaper-reading residents of our nations capital were greeted,
yesterday morning, with a large, unavoidable picture, in the Washington
Post, of... more
By
Paul Jacob (Jun 13, 2010)
Pessimism is the lazy stepchild of vigilance.
There. Ive said it. Thats the one bit of wisdom for today.
Why bring it up? Well, theres... more
By
Paul Jacob (Jun 06, 2010)
Getting soft on politicians? Not on your life.
Its just that Oklahoma State Senator Randy Brogdon is nothing like a run-of-the-mill politician. Hes a... more
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Paul Jacob (May 30, 2010)
Impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich goes on trial this week for allegedly attempting to sell his appointment to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President... more
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Paul Jacob (May 23, 2010)
Back in college, decades ago, my political theory professor regaled his students with stories of the brilliant political analyses and insights of his favorite European... more
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Paul Jacob (May 16, 2010)
When ranking the branches of the federal government, good, better, best doesnt quite cut it. Far better an Olbermannian concoction of worse, worser,... more
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Paul Jacob (May 09, 2010)
Governments, Thomas Jefferson wrote so eloquently in our Declaration of Independence, derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. This founding... more
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Paul Jacob (May 02, 2010)
Those who adore modern, unlimited government have a problem. A few problems, actually, but biggest is their obvious inability to say no to government... more
By
Paul Jacob (Apr 25, 2010)
The latest Pew Research Center survey of public opinion shows that Americans trust their government even less than they did before. Apparently, nearly half of us think... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 18, 2010)
Tomorrow is April 19. For what is this date famous?
Thats easy. April 19 marks the anniversary of the shot heard round the world.
No,... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 11, 2010)
For all the zany goings-on up and down his pant leg during orations by President Obama, Chris Matthewss political vision can still sometimes be acute.
Matthews... more
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Paul Jacob (Apr 04, 2010)
This year Social Security will hit its budget crisis, seven years ahead of schedule. In 2010, the wizards in Washington will have to pay out more to beneficiaries than... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 28, 2010)
Long before the crack of tomorrows dawn, this old man will be creaking out of bed, cantering to the airport and jetting to Salt Lake City, Utah. In some respects,... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 21, 2010)
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on health care legislation. Sorta.
Speaker Nancy Pelosis goal is to pass the Senate bill and send it to the... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 14, 2010)
In the grand scheme of things — among all the wasteful, foolish, corrupting things engaged in by members of Congress — earmarks are one small item.
We... more
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Paul Jacob (Mar 07, 2010)
Yesterday I turned 50. Time flies when youre having fun.
For the last 30-plus years — my entire adult life — Ive worked in politics. That might... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 28, 2010)
Its hard to fathom, but 10 percent of Americans believe Congress is doing a good or excellent job. That high, eh? The recent Rasmussen Reports survey also reveals... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 21, 2010)
Tomorrow, February 22, at 5:00 pm, Ill close my office door and take five minutes to quietly reflect upon heroism, honor, courage and fealty to truth.
And... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 14, 2010)
A Wyoming, Minnesota, billboard juxtaposes a picture of former President George W. Bush, sporting one of his signature goofy smiles, with a caption that reads: Miss... more
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Paul Jacob (Feb 07, 2010)
Tim Eyman, Washington states so-called initiative king, calls Sen. Ken Jacobsen (D-Seattle) the most honest elected official on the issue of... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 31, 2010)
Meg Whitman is running for the California governorship. Obviously, Whitman very much wants Californians to cast a vote for her this year. And then, apparently, she wants to... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 24, 2010)
Everyone makes mistakes — especially politicians. Most folks learn from those mistakes — but generally not politicians.
After the historic upset in which... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 17, 2010)
Rejoice! The Democratic Congress is self-destructing.
What but their demise could be expected after a year-long session of pushing unpopular programs through Congress in a... more
By
Paul Jacob (Jan 10, 2010)
Less than a year in, Americans have already lost faith in President Obama. Most had previously lost faith in congressional Democrats, and before that, congressional... more
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Paul Jacob (Jan 03, 2010)
As 2009 drew to a close, the Office of Congressional Ethics ended its investigation of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and several other congressmen associated with PMA Group, a... more