[649] in libertarians
CATO strikes gold!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vernon Imrich)
Sun Feb 12 18:27:50 1995
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU, objectivism@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 18:25:04 EST
From: Vernon Imrich <vimrich@MIT.EDU>
If you haven't seen Sunday's Boston Globe already, get a copy. On
the TOP FRONT PAGE of the FOCUS section (that's the sunday editorial
section) is an article entitled "The Right Idea, Washington's
Hottest Think Tank is the Cato Institute." The words Libertarian
Party appear in one of the first few paragraphs. This is some
serious press folks, and not much of it bad or distorted!! If I
get an on-line copy I'll post it later.
If that wasn't enough, here's a story from the Washington Post!
Anyone sensing a snowball effect?
---begin forward--
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 16:13:05 -0500 (EST)
From: James Rowh <frowhj@iia.org>
Subject: Cato Charts Congress' Course
To: Libernet <libernet@Dartmouth.EDU>
Alliteration mine ;->
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Before another firestorm begins over the fair use of copyrighted
material...I contacted the Washington Post about reproducing their
articles, and they told me that it was acceptable as long as it wasn't
for any commercial use and full credit for authorship was maintained.
Cheers!
2234118
The Federal Page - The Cato Institute's Prescription to Prune Libertarian
Think Tank Gives Lawmakers 358 Pages Toward a Much Smaller Government.
The Washington Post, February 06, 1995, FINAL Edition
By: Dan Balz, Washington Post Staff Writer
Section: A SECTION, p. A17
Story Type: News National
Line Count: 99 Word Count: 1088
Forget the flurry over these first 100 days of the 104th Congress and the
Republican "Contract With America." The Cato Institute has much bigger
things in mind.
The libertarian-leaning think tank, where the philosophy is the less
government the better, has produced a detailed blueprint for the new
Congress that goes well beyond what the Republicans are contemplating. If
enacted even in part, it could radically transform the role of the federal
government in American life.
In a new "handbook" for Congress, which will be released today, Cato's
authors outline a soup-to-nuts agenda to reduce spending, kill programs,
terminate whole agencies and dramatically restrict the power of the
federal government. Much of what they have to say will be controversial
with both Republicans and Democrats.
Cato's authors say it is time to cut spending across the board, slash the
defense budget, replace the income tax with a national sales tax, raise
the Social Security retirement age to 70 and allow workers under age 50 to
opt out of the system, and abolish a whole series of environmental laws
and regulations, from Superfund to the clean air and water acts.
The 358-page handbook argues that over the past half-century, the federal
government has amassed power far beyond anything imagined by the Founding
Fathers, but that the 1994 elections now make it possible to reverse those
trends.
"We believe that on Nov. 8, 1994, the American people finally concluded
that the experiment in big government was a failure," the handbook states,
and that those elections helped to explode "the myth of the omnipotent
state."
As a result, Cato's authors issue a challenge to the new Republican
majority to think boldly and not to let this opportunity for dramatic
restructuring slip away.
"If the new Republican majority . . . merely tinkers with marginal
reforms, leaving the vast bulk of the welfare-regulatory state in place,
it is likely to be run out of town in short order, with little concern for
partisan sentiments," Cato president Edward H. Crane and David Boaz, Cato
executive vice president, assert in the opening chapter.
Crane, in a pre-publication interview, described the handbook as "a
substantive program" for the 104th Congress that "captures the mood of the
country right now."
Crane also made clear that publication of the handbook for Congress is an
effort to increase Cato's influence on Capitol Hill, particularly among
the 73 freshmen Republicans in the House.
"This document is much more in sync with younger members," he said. "A lot
of the senior members just don't get it at this point."
The handbook's 39 chapters cover subjects from constitutional powers and
the federal budget to agriculture policy and telecommunications.
Among its recommendations:
* FISCAL POLICY: With Congress debating the balanced budget amendment,
Cato's handbook recommends that the first step toward reducing the deficit
should be to cut spending 5 percent across the board -- except for Social
Security -- beginning with the second half of this year and running
through fiscal 1996. After that, Congress should freeze spending at 1996
levels through fiscal 2000.
Cato recommends cutting 100 programs or agencies and selling off $100
billion worth of federal lands. Recommended program cuts include
agriculture crop subsidies, food stamps, Head Start, elementary and
secondary education grants, low-income housing assistance, the space
station and wastewater treatment grants.
The handbook recommends that Congress move to scrap the income tax system
and replace it with a national sales tax of 16 to 18 percent. Interim
steps would include elimination of the capital gains tax, outlawing
retroactive taxes and abolishing tax withholding.
* GOVERNMENT REFORM: "We have elected a legislature of professional
busybodies," the handbook says in a chapter calling for "perestroika in
government."
Cato's congressional reforms begin with term limits, and the handbook
urges a constitutional limit of 12 years in the Senate and six in the
House, rather than the 12-year House limit that senior Republicans such as
House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) favor. The 12-year House limit, Cato's
handbook says, represents "the professional politicians' attempt to
preserve as much of the status quo as possible."
Other reform proposals include ending all congressional perks and
scrapping the current congressional pension program.
Looking at the executive branch, Cato calls for eliminating eight Cabinet
departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban
Development, Labor, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.
* DOMESTIC POLICY: Social Security reforms top the domestic agenda. The
main elements are to raise the retirement age to 70 over the next 30 years
and to allow workers under age 50 to shift some of their Social Security
payroll taxes to individual investment accounts. Cato calls for a gradual
increase in the Medicare deductible and a shift in the program to cover
catastrophic rather than ordinary medical expenses.
Cato would turn education and welfare over to the states. On crime, it
would repeal the 1994 crime bill and would legalize the sale of drugs to
adults, a longstanding position.
Cato's immigration policy is summed up as "immigration yes, welfare no."
Congress, the handbook says, should expand quotas on legal immigration
while restricting access of legal immigrants to welfare.
* REGULATION: Among the most far-reaching of Cato's proposals are those
affecting federal regulations. Cato attacks everything from the Food and
Drug Administration to the Americans with Disabilities Act to a host of
environmental laws, including legislation covering clean air, clean water
and toxic waste cleanup. It calls them a "costly, wasteful and
job-killing" burden on the economy.
* DEFENSE, FOREIGN POLICY: Cato urges the United States to adopt a policy
of "strategic independence" that would reject the role of global policeman
without becoming a "hermit republic." Cato recommends ending U.S.
military participation in United Nations peacekeeping activities. The
handbook also says it is time to begin bring home U.S. forces from Japan
and South Korea, eliminate all bilateral and multilateral foreign aid and
terminate such "Cold War relics" as the Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency, the U.S. Information Agency and the Selective Service.
Unlike many Republicans, Cato contends defense spending should be reduced,
not increased. The handbook recommends elimination of the B-2 bomber, the
Seawolf submarine, the Trident D-5 missile and the C-17 cargo plane;
Congress should shrink the military budget to about $204 billion by fiscal
2000, Cato says.
But it advocates increased spending on an antiballistic missile (ABM)
defense system.
NAMED PERSONS: GINGRICH, NEWT; BOAZ, DAVID; CRANE, EDWARD H. ORGANIZATION
NAME: CATO INSTITUTE; REPUBLICAN PARTY; CONTRACT WITH AMERICA DESCRIPTORS:
U.S. Congress; Government reorganization and transition; Federal
government; Budget; Government state relations
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| Vernon Imrich | market failure, n. The inabilty of the |
| MIT, Dept. OE | market to recover from a blow by |
| Cambridge, MA 02139 | intervention. (The Exchange) |
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