Cato Daily Dispatch for November 6, 2003
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Bush Renews Call for Middle East DemocracyCampaign Finance: No Match for Dean?
Senate to Debate Internet Tax Ban
Bush Renews Call for Middle East Democracy
"President Bush called Thursday for democratic reforms in the Middle East, saying that 'freedom can be the future of every nation,'" The Associated Press reports.
"Bush said the stakes were particularly high in Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein's rule. 'The failure of Iraqi democracy would embolden terrorists around the world,' the president said."
Patrick Basham, senior fellow in Cato's Center for Representative Government, reacted to Bush's comments today. "Democracy is not a gift that President Bush can bestow on the Middle East," said Basham. "Revealingly, the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars on democracy programs in the Middle East during the 1990s with no noticeable impact. The reality is that the ingredients for successful democracy are found in domestic political kitchens. Democracy is an opportunity that Iraqis and others must discover, grasp, and craft for themselves."
In "A Democratic Iraq? Don't Hold Your Breath", Basham writes that "the realization of Iraq's democratic potential will depend more on the introduction of a free market economic system and its long-term positive influence on Iraqi political culture than on a United Nations-approved election."
Campaign Finance: No Match for Dean?
According to The Associated Press, "if Democrat Howard Dean joins President Bush and skips presidential public financing, Congress may be moved to grapple with what to do with the Watergate-era reform meant to rid the system of big money.
"The bigger question, however, may be whether the public cares enough to save it."
"American taxpayers have spent $2 billion on presidential public funding since 1976. They have received little, if anything, for their money," John Samples, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Representative Government, said in a statement released today. "Dean is doing us a favor. The presidential program has not fulfilled its goals."
Samples is the author of "Government Financing of Campaigns: Public Choice and Public Values".
Senate to Debate Internet Tax Ban
"A long-delayed federal Internet tax bill that would turn a temporary moratorium on taxes on Internet access into a permanent ban is scheduled for debate today on the floor of the Senate," The New York Times reports.
"The argument over the bill has been as heated as a chat-room brawl. Opponents contend that state coffers will be emptied as more areas of commerce - like telephone service - become Internet-based and fall within the ban."
In "The Internet Tax Solution: Tax Competition, Not Tax Collusion", Adam Thierer, Cato's director of telecommunications studies and Veronique de Rugy, fiscal policy analyst, write that "although extending the existing [Internet tax] moratorium makes good sense, Congress must also take an affirmative stand against efforts by state and local governments to create a collusive multistate tax compact to tax interstate sales. Other options exist that state and local governments can pursue before looking to impose unconstitutional tax burdens on interstate commerce."
Christopher Kilmer, editor, ckilmer@cato.org
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