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Cato Daily Dispatch for September 8, 2003

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Bush Wants Doubling of Iraq Reconstruction Spending
Justices Consider Campaign Finance Rules Today
In Alabama, Even God's Support Might Not Be Enough

Bush Wants Doubling of Iraq Reconstruction Spending

"President Bush, addressing the nation about the unexpectedly violent Iraq occupation, called last night for doubling the amount of money that already has been spent on the conflict and urged other countries to send more help," reports The Washington Post.

"In a televised speech to the nation, Bush said he will ask Congress for $87 billion in military and reconstruction spending for next year, significantly more than the range administration officials had given lawmakers. That brings to about $150 billion the amount the United States is spending on the Iraq war and its aftermath -- 50 percent more than officials had expected just a few months ago."

Director of Foreign Policy Studies Christopher Preble made the following comments regarding the president's speech: "By remaining in Iraq after Hussein's ouster--with no demonstrable plan for exiting the country--the Bush administration has all but invited foreign fighters to join forces with Iraqis frustrated and humiliated by a foreign occupation. The result is an alliance of terrorists and terrorist sympathizers working to kill Americans and any Iraqis aiding us. These actions thwart the desires of many Iraqis because acts of terrorism postpone progress toward self-government."

Justices Consider Campaign Finance Rules Today

"Supreme Court justices, returning early Monday from their summer break for special arguments for the first time in nearly three decades, were to question supporters and opponents of complicated new rules intended to clean up election finances," The Associated Press reports.

"Even without the final word from the high court, candidates are raising and spending cash under the rules. A ruling on the constitutionality of the campaign finance law could come before year's end."

In a new Cato Briefing Paper, "The Benefits of Campaign Spending," John J. Coleman, associate chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, (Madison), writes: "Spending does not diminish trust, efficacy, and involvement, contrary to critics' charges. Moreover, spending increases public knowledge about the candidates, across essentially all groups in the population, whether 'advantaged' or 'disadvantaged.' The policy implication of these findings is that low levels of campaign spending are not likely to increase public trust, involvement, or attention, but they will tend to diminish public knowledge. Spending limits, whether explicit or implicit, mean a reduction in the level of public knowledge during campaigns."

In Alabama, Even God's Support Might Not Be Enough

Despite Alabama's Gov. Bob Riley's push that God would favor higher taxes, polls indicate that voters will reject a proposed $1.2 billion tax increase in a statewide referendum tomorrow, according to The New York Times.

"It has all been an extraordinary campaign and an extraordinary conversion for Riley, a conservative Republican governor and former congressman who rose to power on a strict tax-cut platform."

In a recent op-ed, Senior Fellow Doug Bandow wrote of Riley's crusade and his claim: "God focuses on our relationship with him and our neighbors; he does not detail a special legislative agenda. While the Old Testament, particularly, is filled with denunciations of government oppression, nowhere does that mean a regressive tax system adopted by a democratic polity. Instead, it means an autocratic Israelite king or outside conqueror stealing and pillaging. In fact, much of what government does today also could be characterized as stealing and pillaging, but that results from too many, not too few, taxes, which fund the endless soup line of special interest spending programs."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org