4.04.00
A Well Endowed Democracy

4.03.00
An Unsettling Antitrust Case

4.03.00
The Ph.D. with the Lamp

3.31.00
Elian, Still in the Middle of the Ocean

3.31.00
The Clintonization of America

3.30.00
A Real Shipwreck

3.29.00
The Dead Baby Thing is So Over

3.29.00
Are Gun Locks Like Aspirin Caps?

3.28.00
Putin Together A Government

3.27.00
The Dangers of Mandatory Gun Locks

3.24.00
What Hath Ward Wrought?

3.24.00
Leave E-commerce Alone

3.24.00
E-mailgate

3.23.00
Senator, You're No Ronald Reagan

3.23.00
Against Microsoft: A Primer For Conservatives

3.22.00
Kessler Control

orget whether or not Al Gore is a "fit messenger" on campaign finance reform. Forget his fateful grasp of what constitutes "controlling legal authority." Forget the issue of poverty-pledged monks dolling out cash from their sedate monasteries in California. Forget Al Gore's iced tea induced potty breaks that caused him to miss significant parts of campaign meetings where legally questionable material may have been discussed. Forget the hordes of foreign donors who have fled the country to escape being questioned or indicted and convicted like Maria Hsia. None of this ultimately matters.

What does matter is that our current system of campaign financing is terribly broken and that the future of our Democracy may well rest on its repair. With Democracy in the balance, I don’t care if Al Gore or Al Capone comes forward with a workable repair — what matters is that a solution be found, and be found quickly. Unfortunately, Al Gore's newly released campaign finance plan, while grand in its design, will only further damage our already teetering system.

Gore's proposal begins with the constitutionally-challenged "reform" idea found at the center of every major campaign reform legislation considered (and rejected) to date: a ban on soft money. Because the criticisms of banning soft money are well documented elsewhere, I will merely say that the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected bans on soft money and has struck down any and all restrictions on spending that are not directly related to the election or defeat of a particular candidate. In short, the first amendment protects the rights of individuals to spend their money to further their ideals as long as that money is tied to the issues and not to the election or defeat of the candidate that espouses and defends those ideals.

The more troubling aspect of Gore's proposal is his desire to confiscate public airways to "encourage" broadcasters to "voluntarily" provide free air-time to all candidates seeking federal office and to supplement this free-air time with additional time for those candidates targeted by issue ads. This infringement (through strong arm tactics) on the private property rights of broadcasters is troubling enough — but one wonders what rules will be established to determine who qualifies for the free time, what will qualify as "issue advertising" and what level of attack from special interests will qualify for the bonus of even more "free" air time to counter the constitutionally protected speech of others.

The answer to this and many other questions may lie in the more novel aspect of Gore's new proposal — the establishment of a Democracy Endowment. According to Gore, the Democracy Endowment would be a privately funded endowment established to finance the campaigns of any candidate that agreed to voluntarily limit his or her spending to the amount made available through the Endowment. Unfortunately, I fear this endowment would do for democracy what the National Endowment for the Arts has done for artistic expression — but instead of making a mockery of art through urine stained crosses or chocolate clad dancers, this endowment would make a mockery of the constitution by gutting the first and fifth amendments.

According to Gore, the Democracy Endowment would be funded through 100 percent deductible contributions from private individuals and organizations. The Endowment would need to raise $7.1 billion over the next seven years at a cost to the federal government of $2.13 billion (in lost tax revenue). The interest earned from the endowment would then be used to fund the biannual costs of congressional campaigns. Interestingly, if the Endowment fails to attract its targeted $7.1 billion (an amount in excess of all spending on Congressional campaigns over the last decade combined), Gore plans to outright confiscate airtime from private television and radio broadcasters to make up the difference. On this point, Gore gets extra credit for honesty. Go to page 2.

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