December 6, 1999

Courts Replacing Congress
Tax Increase in 2000?
INS Union-busting
Two No. 2s Join Forces
Big Brother is Watching

Courts Replacing Congress?

An Illinois state judge last week allowed a private lawsuit to go forward that accused the gun industry of knowingly creating an underground market in handguns. The ruling further encourages the 28 cities and counties suing the firearms companies, and may suggest that judges have become more receptive to innovative claims against gun makers, reports the New York Times. The judge also said it "is very clear to this court" that gun companies knowingly violated Chicago's strict anti-handgun laws by oversupplying gunshops in the suburbs, where the laws are weaker, creating an underground market in Chicago.

When governments use the judiciary to recover "damages," the courts intrude on the regulatory and revenue responsibilities of legislatures, write Michael I. Krauss and Robert A. Levy in their commentary, "So Sue Them, Sue Them." Doug Bandow agrees in "Social Engineering by Legal Brief," and writes that "if you can't send in bureaucrats, you can send in lawyers. That seems to be the new strategy of the social engineers."

Tax Increase in 2000?

Bill Bradley's refusal to rule out a tax increase to pay for his health plan is based on his belief that voters are ready for honesty at any cost, according to his advisers, who say they are braced for accusations that his frankness could resurrect the tax-and-spend label that Democrats have worked to shed during the 1990s, according to the Washington Post.

Tax increases in times of record surpluses? In the Cato Handbook for Congress section "Fundamental Tax reform," (pdf) Stephen Moore calls for drastic tax cuts and the elimination of many government programs. In "Tax Freedom Day," Doug Bandow writes that Americans are paying more and more in taxes every year.

INS Union-busting

The INS has arrested and is deporting half the staff of chambermaids at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Minneapolis. The owner of the hotel called authorities after the workers demanded a half-hour lunch break and a raise in wages.

In the Cato Handbook for Congress section on immigration (pdf), Dan Griswold and Stephen Moore call for an easing of immigration laws and expanded quotas for immigrant workers. Julian L. Simon compiles a plethora of statistics and facts on immigration from which to draw conclusions in the pamphlet "Immigration: The Demographic and Economic Facts." In "Keep Giving Us Your Best and Your Brightest," Moore argues that "immigrants are generally assets to our economy and our culture."

Two No. 2s Join Forces

Bill Bradley and Sen. John McCain are reportedly planning an unprecedented joint appearance before the New Hampshire primaries to draw attention to campaign finance reform. Both candidates object to "soft money" and have promised to shun unregulated party money if they became the nominees.

Current campaign finance regulations have never reduced the influence of money, opened up the political system, nor lowered the cost of campaigns, argues Bradley A. Smith in "Campaign Finance Regulation: Faulty Assumptions and Undemocratic Consequences." In July this year, Roger Pilon testified before Congress on the Constitutional issues related to campaign finance reform.

Big Brother is Watching

The Electronics Privacy Information Center is suing the National Security Agency for allegedly spying on U.S. citizens’ communications as part of an international spy network dubbed "Echelon."

"The charter of the National Security Agency does not authorize domestic intelligence gathering," said Marc Rotenberg, director of EPIC, in a statement on Friday. "Yet we have reason to believe that the NSA is engaged in the indiscriminate acquisition and interception of domestic communications taking place all over the Internet."

Similarly, the FBI has demanded surveillance powers far beyond those it has a lawful right to claim, writes David Kopel in "When You Call, Who Is Listening?" In "How Big Brother Began," Solveig Singleton writes that seemingly innocuous measures by government can lead to an Orwellian state.