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Cato Daily Dispatch for April 21, 2004

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Senator Considers Reintroducing the Draft
WHO Advises Using Taxes to Reduce Obesity
Kerry, Bush Build Large War Chests

Senator Considers Reintroducing the Draft

"A senior Republican lawmaker said that deteriorating security in Iraq may force the United States to reintroduce the military draft," Agence France Presse reports.

"'Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?' Senator Chuck Hagel told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force 'our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face.'"

In "Fixing What Ain't Broke: The Renewed Call for Conscription," Cato Senior Fellow Doug Bandow argues that a renewed draft would not only be bad for the military, but would sacrifice "the very constitutional liberties that the military is charged to defend."

"The purpose of America's armed forces is to defend a free society built on respect for and protection of individual liberty. Ultimately, the preservation of liberty is the most important reason to reject conscription," he writes. "A draft would be costly, especially to the military. More basic, however, conscription would be incompatible with the government's duty to protect the individual liberty of the American people."

WHO Advises Using Taxes to Reduce Obesity

"The World Health Organisation is continuing to advise governments to consider using taxes to help combat obesity, despite intense lobbying by the US and the worldwide food industry to water down its recommendations," the Financial Times reports.

"In the final version of its draft global strategy on diet, physical activity and health, the WHO suggests governments should use fiscal measures to discourage consumption of too much sugar, salt and saturated fat. It stops short, however, of advocating specific 'fat taxes' or subsidies for healthy foods."

In "Too Fat: Federal Powers Need a Constitutional Diet," George Mason University Law Professor Michael I. Krauss and Cato Senior Fellow Robert A. Levy write: "[No one] has thought to ask where in the Constitution -- - the document that enumerates Congress' few and defined powers -- - the national government is authorized to tackle obesity, much less to bar private parties from filing fat-related grievances in state courts against food companies."

They continue: "Excessive food consumption, for example, would be a public health problem if it were contagious. But it isn't. Decisions about nutrition, for us and our families, are voluntary, entirely private matters. We do not need government -- much less federal government -- making those decisions for us."

Kerry, Bush Build Large War Chests

"John Kerry quickly rebuilt his depleted campaign fund after securing the Democratic nomination last month, raising roughly $44 million and beating one of President Bush's money records," the Associated Press reports.

"Kerry collected about $57 million from January through March, topping the previous presidential quarterly record of $50 million set by Bush last summer. Bush raised $52.9 million in the first three months of this year. Kerry has a long way to go to catch up with Bush's record overall fund raising, however."

In "The Benefits of Campaign Spending," University of Wisconsin Professor John J. Coleman writes: "Studies indicate that campaign spending does not diminish trust, efficacy, and involvement, contrary to what critics charge. Moreover, spending increases public knowledge of the candidates, across essentially all groups in the population. Less spending on campaigns is not likely to increase public trust, involvement, or attention. Implicit or explicit spending limits reduce public knowledge during campaigns. Getting more money into campaigns should, on the whole, be beneficial to American democracy."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org