Vol. 2 No. 12 - August 20, 1997
http://www.cato.org
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'CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM' IS LATEST INCUMBENT-PROTECTION TACTIC
The re-election rate for incumbents in the House of Representatives has
been above 90 percent for the last 20 years; in 1997 it exceeded 94
percent. According to a new Cato Institute Policy Analysis, incumbent
politicians secure such lopsided re-election rates by giving themselves
a variety of institutional advantages. Proposed campaign spending limits
are merely the latest and most potent incumbent-protection measure to be
considered.
In "The End of Representation: How Congress Stifles Electoral
Competition," Eric O'Keefe of U.S. Term Limits and Aaron Steelman of the
Cato Institute describe the institutional advantages of incumbents,
including constituent service, franked mail, gerrymandering and
pork-barrel spending.
While those advantages make incumbents all but unbeatable, new campaign
finance regulations threaten to increase officeholders' advantages even
more by capping spending at precisely the point at which challenges
become viable. According to the authors, House challengers who spent
less than $600,000 on their campaigns in 1994 and 1996 won only 3
percent of their races, but House challengers who spent more than
$600,000 won about 40 percent of theirs. The House campaign finance
reform bill receiving the most media attention contains a $600,000
spending limit. "Current campaign laws restricting the amount of money
that a candidate can raise deter many potential challengers and greatly
reduce the electoral chances of those who decide to run. Proposals that
would regulate campaign finance even more would only further entrench
incumbents," O'Keefe and Steelman write.
They argue that these problems can be solved. "Reducing the size of
government would shrink the opportunities and necessity for constituent
service. Eliminating campaign contribution limits would enable more
candidates to wage viable campaigns. Most of all, imposing term limits
on members of Congress would ensure that party leaders and committee
chairmen would not become part of a permanent ruling class."
Policy Analysis no. 279 (http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-279es.html)
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BELOW-COST TUITION THREATENS INDEPENDENT EDUCATION, scholar says
Taxpayer support draws students away from private colleges, imperils
pluralism
Taxpayer subsidies to public universities lure students away from
private colleges and are causing many private institutions to go out of
business, writes Gary Wolfram in a new Cato Institute Policy Analysis.
Wolfram points out that, at the beginning of this century, more than
four of every five students were enrolled in private colleges, while
today almost four in five students attend a public university. In
addition, of the 346 colleges that closed their doors between 1970 and
1993, 312 were private.
According to Wolfram, George Munson Professor of Political Economy at
Hillsdale College, heavy subsidies to state-run colleges put the
independent sector of higher education at a severe disadvantage and make
it difficult for private colleges to maintain student enrollment. He
notes that in-state tuition covers only about 28 percent of the costs of
providing an education in a public college.
Wolfram argues that subsidizing upper-income students who attend state
colleges threatens a valuable component of American education. "Private
colleges are essential to diverse and independent education and to the
maintenance of a civil society independent of the state," he writes.
"Economic analysis suggests that below-cost tuition at public colleges
draws students away from the private sector."
"Legislators should stop using below-cost tuition to lure students from
private to public colleges," Wolfram says. "They should eliminate direct
subsidies to universities, require the universities to charge tuition
sufficient to cover costs, and give financial aid directly to students,
to be spent at either public or private colleges. Otherwise we may
eliminate a vital part of civil society."
Policy Analysis no. 278 (http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-278es.html)
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEREGULATION SHOULD EXTEND TO RADIO
Corporation for Public Broadcasting subsidies do more harm than good
"If taxpayer funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were
eliminated, community radio would not only survive, it would thrive,"
writes Jesse Walker in a new study released by the Cato Institute.
In "With Friends Like These: Why Community Radio Does Not Need the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting," Walker, a Seattle-based
journalist, notes that although Congress created the CPB to fund and
promote community-oriented programming as an alternative to mainstream
commercial television and radio, community stations=92 goals have been
subverted by bureaucratic meddling. "Federal funds inevitably eradicate
local diversity and character," he writes.
CPB subsidies have forced many small, noncommercial radio stations to
abandon the volunteer bases and eclectic programming that once made them
unique. "However well-intentioned, CPB rules pressure community radio
stations to replace volunteers with paid staff and to abandon diverse,
experimental local programming for more bland fare," Walker writes.
Walker proposes that telecommunications deregulation should be extended
to community radio. He also criticizes legal barriers to new low-budget
community radio stations, such as the Federal Communication Commission's
refusal to license stations operating at less than 100 watts. Revising
the expensive and delay-ridden licensing process would "facilitate a
renaissance in alternative radio."
Policy Analysis no. 277 (http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-277es.html)
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