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{{activistprofile |
 name               = Paul Jacob |
 birthdate          = 1960 |
 image              = PaulJacob.jpg |
 organization       = [[Citizens in Charge Foundation |Citizens in Charge]], [[Sam Adams Alliance]] |
 politics           = [[Libertarian]] |
 issues             = [[Initiative]] & [[Referendum]], [[Term limits]] |
 website            = [http://www.citizensincharge.org/ Citizens in Charge] |
 campaign           = [[Free Paul Jacob]] |
 pastcampaigns      = [[U.S. Term Limits]] |
}}{{TOCnestright}}'''Paul Jacob''' (1960 - ) is an activist, organizer, and advocate for legislative term limits, initiative and referendum rights, and [[limited government]] in the United States. He writes a weekly column for [http://townhall.com Townhall.com] and his short radio commentary feature, "Common Sense," is syndicated on over 120 radio stations around the U.S.

He is the president of [[Citizens in Charge Foundation|Citizens in Charge]], a national advocacy organization supporting initiative rights. 

Known as a leader of the [[term limits]] movement, Jacob ran [[U.S. Term Limits]], the nation's most active term limits advocacy group, from its inception in 1992 until 1999, becoming the movement's leading voice. Jacob helped citizens in 23 states place limits on their congressional delegations, prompting columnist [[Robert Novak]] to call him "the most hated man in Washington." But on May 22, 1995, those state-imposed congressional term limits, encompassing nearly half the U.S. Congress, were struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of ''[[U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton|U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton]]''. Today, 15 state legislatures, 36 governors and thousands of local officials, including those in nine of the country's ten largest cities, are under term limits. Jacob remains active as a board member and a senior fellow of [[U.S. Term Limits]].

== Draft resistance ==
Jacob first came to political prominence in the early 1980s as a draft registration resister. His crusade against forced military service and for the all-volunteer army was featured in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. In 1985, after being convicted of violating the Selective Service Act, he served five months in federal prison, longer than any American draft resister since the Vietnam War.

== Rise in the Libertarian Party ==
Jacob served on the National Committee of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_%28United_States%29 Libertarian Party] and then in 1987 and 1988 as the party's national director. In 1988, he worked to put [[Ron Paul]] on the ballot for president as a Libertarian, winning [[ballot access]] in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam.

See [[Libertarian Party ballot access]].

== Political philosophy ==
Because Jacob emphasizes institutional and procedural reforms, his [[Libertarian|libertarian]] philosophy appears more centrist than either [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-libertarian Left-libertarian] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolibertarianism rightist]. Though often writing from a background of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_conservatism cultural conservatism], his frequent criticisms of what he regards as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29 Republican Party] "excesses" distances his writing from that of most other columnists usually defined as "on the right".

== Political targets ==
Frequent targets of his commentary include Republicans known for their pork barrel spending, such as Senator Ted Stevens, and both Democrats and Republicans who support campaign spending regulations, such as Senators Russ Feingold and John McCain. Paul Jacob has repeatedly argued that the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipartisan_Campaign_Reform_Act McCain-Feingold] law, and all similar campaign finance reform measures, are clear violations of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment First Amendment].

== Titles ==
Jacob is a senior advisor at the [[Sam Adams Alliance]], which produces his ''Common Sense'' radio and internet commentary program: [http://www.samadamsalliance.org/common_sense/ Common Sense]. 

Jacob also serves as president of [[Citizens in Charge Foundation|Citizens in Charge]], a group he started in 2001, dedicated to expanding [[Initiative and referendum]] rights to more states.  

==Prosecution by Drew Edmondson==

In 2007, [[Drew Edmondson|Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson]] filed criminal charges against Jacob, [[Susan Johnson]] and [[Rick Carpenter]], who became collectively known as the [[Oklahoma 3]].  Edmondson asserted that Jacob, Johnson and Carpenter had violated [[Laws governing the initiative process in Oklahoma|Oklahoma's ban on non-resident petition circulators]].  The charges were denied.

As the result of a federal lawsuit, ''[[Yes on Term Limits v. Savage]]'', the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit|Tenth Circuit]] ruled unanimously on December 18, 2008 that the law under which Edmondson was criminally prosecuting the trio was unconstitutional.  Edmondson asked the court to re-considered; on January 21, the court said it would not do so.  Edmondson then on January 22 dropped his prosecution, saying that the 1969 law under which he was prosecuting them was "no longer enforceable".<ref>[http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20090122_298_0_OKLAHO827281 ''Associated Press'', "State won't appeal initiative petition ruling", January 22, 2009]</ref>

Edmondson's prosecution of Jacobs, Johnson and Carpenter led to the [[Free Paul Jacob]] movement.  In the eighteen months that elapsed between the time that Edmondson filed and then dropped the charges, his attempt to jail the Oklahoma 3 for ten years led the [[wikipedia:Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]] to compare the government in Oklahoma to that of Pakistan, and led Steve Forbes of [[wikipedia:Forbes|Forbes]] to compare the government of Oklahoma to the government of North Korea.<ref>[http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010882 <i>Wall St. Journal</i>, "Oklahoma's Most Wanted; The latest thing in political felonies: a petition drive"]</ref>,<ref>[http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/1126/023.html <i>Forbes</i> magazine, "Has North Korea Annexed Oklahoma?"]</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.samadamsalliance.org/ The Sam Adams Alliance]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jacob Wikipedia's entry about Paul Jacob]
*[http://www.thisiscommonsense.com/ This Is Common Sense]
*[http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PaulJacob Paul Jacob, Townhall columnist]
*[http://backboneamerica.net/downloads/08102008show/segment3.mp3 John Andrews of Backbone America interviews Paul Jacob], August 10, 2008.  MP3
*[http://www.citizensincharge.org Citizens in Charge]
*[http://www.draftresistance.org/herotoday.php Hero of the Day, column by Steve Stephens]
*[http://www.pauljacob.com Paul Jacob's personal blog]
*[http://www.freepauljacob.com Free Paul Jacob]  — a website in response to recent Oklahoma indictment

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<small>Portions of this article have been adapted from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Wikipedia], the free encyclopedia. Copyright Notice can be found [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights here].</small>

[[Category:National ballot initiative activists]]
[[Category:Ballot initiative activists]]
[[Category:Prominent ballot initiative activists]]