This was the text of a “My Turn” column that I submitted to the AZ Republic back on May 5, 2002.  They did not publish it.

“What do the recent elections in France, our own Clean Elections regime in Arizona and the law of unintended consequences have in common? They show that our Founding Fathers were far wiser than we can ever begin to appreciate.

Reading the news reports out of Paris one can only laugh at the cheese eating surrender monkeys (as the National Review endearingly refer to the French) if it were not so close to the farce that we have forced on ourselves.  In France a candidate at least needs to get 500 elected officials to sign a petition to get his name on the ballot to run for President while now through the good graces of our legislature (that teetering tower of financial restraint) it only takes a similar number of citizens to part with a measly $5 to force open the Public Purse and make our elections process a literal free for all so that that every fringe candidate on the margin with the ability to draw a like-minded mob can clear this speed bump on his way to a public feasting of spending and self laudatory publicity. Continue reading →