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To Be Governed...

 

"To be governed is to be watched, inspected, directed, indoctrinated, numbered, estimated, regulated, commanded, controlled, law-driven, preached at, spied upon, censored, checked, valued, enrolled, by creatures who have neither the right, nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so."

—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

"To Be Governed" is a series of news clippings highlighting the excesses of government. The feature is included in each issue of Cato's bimonthly publication Cato Policy Report.

 

(Last Updated: June 11, 2001)

Lining up against deregulation

Brazil has a bureaucracy only Kafka could love, but luckily for foreigners, the red tape has given rise to a special breed of fixers, known as "despechantes." For a price, despachantes navigate the bureaucracy for their clients, from customs regulations to licensing a new car. . . . Brazil has a love-hate relationship with despachantes, the go-betweens who tackle rules and regulations, while occupying a gray area of the law themselves. And despachantes rarely seek publicity. Sergio Raposo, who heads Brazil's American Chamber of Commerce, says their shyness isn't surprising, because their existence points out the unworkable bureaucracy. . . .

Many such "fixers" work in agencies of up to thirty people, and specialize in certain government agencies or types of paperwork. On a weekday morning, one despachante lingers outside the U.S. consulate, eager to assist those in line for U.S. visas in case they've forgotten any necessary paperwork. He refrains from criticizing the bureaucracy--U.S. or Brazilian-but instead says despachantes provide services to clients who are busy and short on time. . . .

But despachantes aren't always the citizen's best friend. In the Brazilian capital, despachantes have their own lobbying group, which opposes any government efforts to simplify the regulations that, after all, make up their bread and butter.

--Marketplace Radio, June 11, 2001

New frontiers in law

Elizabeth Randolph Roach could not stop shopping, her lawyer told a judge. She shopped for things she did not need, things she did not want, designer clothes and jewelry she never even wore.

A shopping addiction, her lawyer said, compelled Ms. Roach to buy a $7,000 belt buckle at Neiman Marcus, amass 70 pairs of shoes at one time and become so enthralled with shopping in London that she racked up a $30,000 bill and missed her plane back home.

And it was the shopping, argued her lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, that propelled her to steal nearly a quarter of a million dollars from the consulting company she worked for by padding her expense accounts.

On Wednesday, a federal judge agreed. Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of Federal District Court [in Chicago] spared Ms. Roach from going to prison, reducing what could have been an 18-month jail sentence because he said she was using her shopping addiction to "self-medicate" her chronic depression.

--New York Times, May 25, 2001

Government man

The only paychecks Tom Daschle has ever cashed have been drawn on the United States Treasury -- in the Air Force, or in Congress.

--Washington Post, June 6, 2001

Refugees have suffered enough

Refugees can languish in camps for decades. . . .

When American film producer Caroline Baron worked in Kosovo and Macedonia, she was struck by the boredom of the displaced, who had nothing to distract them from their traumas.

Baron dreamed up a project she thought would bring "hopeful entertainment and laughter" to children and exiles [by sending] projectors and films into the camps for Kosovo refugees in April 1999. Now her project, FilmAid International, is taking wing. . . .

FilmAid's library has expanded from Charlie Chaplin movies, cartoons and "Titanic" to include education material on . . . sexual and gender-based violence and conflict resolution.

--Washington Post, June 6, 2001

And the basis of Western civilization

In his first speech on the environment since becoming president, Bush declared his support for the philosophy of property rights, which is popular among western conservatives.

--Washington Post, May 31, 2001

Only taxpayers get tax rebates

Citizens for Tax Justice...reported that almost half of those Americans in the bottom 60 percent of income earners--more than 32 million individuals and families--will receive no rebates [under the new tax bill]....

Michele Davis, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said: "We have a single statistic: One hundred percent of the people with income tax liability will receive a rebate."

[CTJ director Robert] McIntyre said "that is a fair statement."

--Washington Post, May 31, 2001