by Paul Jacob

It may be that politicians are underpaid. I don't know. They seem overpaid, to me, but I could be wrong.

I do know one thing, though: Employees in the world outside of politics rarely get to have final say in their wages. Wage earners' biggest power is the power of quitting. Otherwise the final say, whatever else an employee may say, is with the employer.

But in modern politics, it is legislators who determine their own wages. And we, the people, the employers, have every right to be suspicious.

Our only real power, at present, is the vote. If politicians vote themselves too much in payment, we can vote them out of office.

Which is sort of what happened in Pennsylvania. Last summer, Pennsylvania's legislators voted themselves a whopping pay raise. And one that was unconstitutional to boot. And the people protested. The protests got so loud and so angry that the legislature repealed the raise in November.

But the people weren't appeased. This primary they got back at two of the pay raise instigators, the top two Republicans in the state Senate, Senate Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer and Majority Leader David Brightbill, both of whom lost their primary bids.

Rarely do incumbents lose primaries, and these two were "very incumbent," having served 56 years in the Senate between them. And they weren't alone. This primary marked the largest legislative turnover there in 30 years.

Common Sense is published by Americans for Limited Government. Their website can be visited at www.limitedgov.org.