The next presidential election has 19 months to go and I’m already sick of it.

It’s not merely that otherwise sensible people get swept up in the dream that by electing one of these guys, or gals, they’ll usher in a nirvana of sound public policy.

Or land a cushy job.

The problem is that politicians, bureaucrats and regulators lounging in their cubicles in Washington, DC don’t have the answers.

When a local problem escalates into a national issue, politicians and the nation’s largest lobbies may gain, but regular people get removed from the decision-making process. So does common sense.

That’s why I prefer the town meeting to the congressional sausage-grinder . . . or some dictate from a federal regulator. Not only can we make a bigger difference locally, that local difference can have national impact.

Two weeks ago I asked Common Sense readers to contact Target Corporation to urge them to back away from a deal in Arlington Heights, Illinois, whereby the city is stealing the International Plaza shopping center through eminent domain abuse only to flip it to Target.

The response was tremendous. Thank you. But this battle is far from over. We’re asking concerned citizens to again take action, this time by taking a simple flyer to the manager of your local Target store.

You can go to SamAdamsAlliance.org to download the flyer and get more information. Let them hear from us, right where we live, all across the country.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Paul Jacob is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and is an acclaimed commentator who serves as a Senior Advisor at the Sam Adams Alliance.