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Libertarian Party
2000
Issues Briefing
Booklet
If you are a Libertarian Party candidate, it is
not enough to simply assert that a particular
government program, policy, or law is causing
problems. You must be able to prove it with
specific facts, figures, and studies. s And if you
Facts, are speaking to an audience, it is not enough
statistics, to talk in broad generalities. You must be able
to give the “human dimension” of a problem —
& opinions by telling stories about specific people who have
suffered. s In this booklet, you’ll find those
to bolster kinds of resources: Statistics, research studies,
the case quotations, anecdotes, and analysis about most
of the major policy issues of the day — in easy,
for liberty bite-size sections. And each one is source-cited,
just in case you are questioned about where you
got your information. s In short, this “Issues
Compiled by Briefing Booklet” can make you a smarter, better-
Bill Winter prepared, more effective Libertarian candidate.

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Affirmative Action Americans With 1990 the world literacy rate for tion. The story begins in the liberal
adults rose from 61.5% to 73.5%. academy. Over the past quarter
s In the mid-1940s, the Disabilities Act Art museums and attendance are century an intellectual war has
Detroit Tigers were at the top of booming. Live performance of arts raged on university campuses
s The Americans with Disabil-
baseball, winning the American has flourished as well. New musical between left-wing advocates of
ities Act (ADA) was supposed to
League pennant in 1945 and genres continue to blossom. women’s and minority rights on
mean more disabled Americans
finishing in second place the Creators have the best chance of the one hand, and advocates of
could enter the workforce. Yet
following two years. living from their work in a wealthy, civil liberties on the other.
this year, only 29% of disabled
Their fortunes turned, however, capitalist society. Capitalist art Many cause-oriented feminists
people are employed full or part
in the next decade, as the Tigers consists fundamentally of bringing and minority activists see
time, according to survey results
finished among the top three teams the consumer and producer freedom of speech, and civil
reported in the Washington Post
in their league only once and found together. Therein lies its exhilarat- liberties in general, as a barrier to
(July 23, 1998). This figure is
themselves in last place in 1952. ing, challenging, and poetic empowerment. They know the
lower than before the law was
What happened? While many nature. We should not deplore truth, and tend to be intolerant of
enacted. In 1986, 33% of disabled
things contribute to a team’s our culture, as do the pessimists. the right of others to express
Americans were employed.
victory on the field, we shouldn’t Rather, we should recognize its counter-truth or politically incorrect
— Competitive Enterprise
overlook the impact of baseball’s fundamentally capitalist nature, views. These impatient left-wing
Institute UpDate, December 1998
integration. After Jackie Robinson’s which implies creativity, enter- advocates are winning the battle,
major league debut in 1947, the tainment, innovation, and above and their academic victory is being
s When the list of “victims”
Cleveland Indians, for example, all, diversity. translated into political policy. The
defined under various civil rights
immediately signed African- — Tyler Cowen, Cato Policy translation is not a difficult one
acts was completed in 1991, some
American talent such as Larry Doby Report, September/October 1998 because left-wing political causes
80% of all Americans (everyone
and Satchel Paige and won the — abortion rights, gay rights,
but white males under 40, not
World Series in 1948.
By contrast, Walter Briggs,
disabled, and not on welfare or Civil Liberties affirmative action — garner votes.
SSI disability) were classified as Civil liberties, however, do not
owner of the Tigers, refused to s In Hong Kong, two demo- have a significant constituency.
“minorities.” It has become such a
sign any African Americans, and cracy activists were convicted of On some issues moreover —
statistical joke that most citizens,
the Tigers dropped from second desecrating the Hong Kong and particularly those affecting freedom
including many of the “disabled,”
to fifth place in 1948 — and Chinese flags at a rally calling for of speech — the radical left has
have finally become angered.
continued to spiral down the the end of one-party rule in joined the religious right in a
— Martin L. Gross, The End of
standings throughout the 1950s. China. Defacing the flags became censorial coalition. As a result, civil
Sanity, Avon Books (1997)
The sad story of the Detroit illegal when Hong Kong was liberties have become bad politics,
Tigers illuminates a facet of the handed over to China. while the anti-civil liberties
morality of capitalism: It makes Art & Government The judge who convicted the agenda is a political freebie.
immoral decisions such as bigotry s The Left concludes that two said the Chinese flag is “a — Alan M. Dershowitz, Penthouse
expensive. government support for the arts symbol which represents the magazine, June 1998
Briggs could insist on preserving is needed; the Right often favors state, her people, and her land”
racial barriers only at the cost of government support for “tradi- and “should remain as a sacred s Minnesota citizens may soon
fewer wins and, by extension, fewer tional” culture. A review of the symbol respected by all Chinese be guinea pigs for yet another
fans. In a free market, artificial evidence offers strong reasons for regardless of their social, political, privacy invasion experiment.
limitations on potential employees cultural optimism and confidence or philosophical beliefs.” A new law authorizes a study
and customers mar the product that a modern commercial society Funny, I could have sworn I to fingerprint all citizens.
and cripple the firm. will stimulate artistic creativity heard members of the U.S. House Proponents of the law are excited
By contrast, firms that want to and diversity. of Representatives saying about the possibility that
remain competitive will seek The music of Bach, Mozart, something very similar a few fingerprinting requirements on
talent and markets wherever they and Beethoven is more accessible months ago. driver’s licenses would allow
may be found. And this drive to today than it was in the 18th and — Charles Oliver, Reason retailers to check the fingerprints
remain competitive prompts firms 19th centuries. Movies can be magazine, December 1998 of suspect customers and “know
to more open patterns of hiring, rented on videocassette very in three minutes” if they are who
buying, and selling. cheaply. New editions of many s To understand Clinton’s dis- they say they are. (Imagine the
— Robert Sirico, Acton Notes, literary works are published mal record on civil liberties requires embarrassment experienced at
January 2000 regularly. Between 1970 and an understanding of his genera- grocery stores by citizens waiting

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to be “verified.”) on Ritalin alone, while Alexander Card, in self-defense, stabbed the one percent of U.S. homes were
The original language of the Cockburn, writing in the Los mugger in the head and neck with connected to central alarm systems.
bill clearly shows the future plans Angeles Times (July 6), reports the penknife he was carrying. By 1990, one in ten homes were.
for identification by biometrics. that Ritalin is being given to about After the struggle, Card — Bruce L. Benson, The Cato
These include “tobacco, liquor, and two million American school retrieved and returned the gold Institute, August 20, 1999
lottery sales enforcement; health children. chains to Evans. Then he walked
care; voter registration; and Eighteen-year-old Eric Harris, away towards his house, where s The avalanche of new laws
school access, and other situations who with his friend Dylan Klebold, he planned to get ready for work Congress has passed since 1970
where accurate personal identifi- 17, massacred their classmates in a Midtown video arcade, but to make America’s streets safe has
cation is essential.” and a teacher at Columbine High cops arrested him two blocks failed, a report concludes.
— Twila Brase, Intellectual School in Littleton, Colorado on away from the Prospect Avenue “There is no persuasive
Ammunition, June/July 1998 April 20, had been taking Luvox train station. Card now faces evidence that federalization of
for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. attempted murder charges and 25 local crime makes the streets
Crime T. J. Solomon, 15, who shot and years in jail. safer for American citizens,” says
wounded six fellow students at — Douglas Montero, The New a report prepared by a blue-
s In the wake of the recent Heritage High School in Conyers, York Post, September 27, 1999 ribbon task force sponsored by
wave of shootings in America’s Georgia, on May 20 was on Ritalin the American Bar Association and
government schools, there has for depression. Also on Ritalin for s Crime rates, according to chaired by former Attorney
been an orgy of hand-wringing bi-polar disorder was 15-year-old FBI reports, fell about 16% per General Edwin Meese III.
and finger-pointing in the main- Shawn Cooper, who fired two 100,000 population from their 1991 The 16-member task force says
stream media. Blame for these shotgun rounds, narrowly missing peak to 1997 and fell another 7% a Congress worried about being
tragedies is variously ascribed to classmates and teachers at his in 1998. Politicians claim credit called “soft on crime” actually
the availability of firearms or the high school in Notus, Idaho. because of their support for prison may be hurting the fight against
violent content of movies, Kip Kinkel, 15, who first killed construction, longer mandated street violence by passing federal
television, and video games. his parents and later killed two sentences, greater police funding, laws that duplicate state and local
Occasionally, blame is placed with students and wounded 22 more or policies that reduce unemploy- efforts nationwide.
the parents of the perpetrators. in his Oregon school’s cafeteria, ment . . . — The Associated Press,
Amidst all the clamor, there was on Ritalin and Prozac. No doubt many of these factors February 17, 1999
have been a few voices sounding Mitchell Johnson, 13, who, help explain falling crime rates,
a very different alarm: That with his friend, Andrew Golden, but there is another, perhaps s The Department of Justice
millions of American children are 11, shot several children and a more important, cause which has reported in January [1998] that
on psychotropic drugs — many of teacher at Westside Middle School gone largely unnoticed: Private the nation’s prison and jail
which have violent side-effects. in Jonesboro, Arkansas, was being citizens’ growing investments of populations have risen nearly 6%
Samuel L. Blumenfield, writing treated by a psychiatrist and is time and money in security. from the previous year — more
in WorldNetDaily (July 7, 1999) presumed to have been on some Private crime control—including than 50% since the beginning of
noted: “What is most disturbing, sort of medication. voluntary watch, patrol and escort the decade. At midyear 1997 an
however, is the growing aware- — Mark Valverde, Freedom Net- arrangements, alarms, improved estimated 1,725,842 men and
ness that the increased violence work News, August-October 1999 locks and better lighting, self- women — roughly 645 out of every
among school children may have protection, and private security 100,000 Americans — were held
more to do with the drugs than s “That could have been my personnel — has been a growth in the nation’s prisons and jails.
with the guns they use to carry mother.” industry for decades. A 1970 esti- — Jubilee Extra, Prison Fellowship
out their violence.” That’s what drove Maleke mate put private security personnel Ministries, March 1998
Kelly O’Meara, writing in the Card, 19, to step in and grapple at roughly equal to public police,
June 28, 1999 issue of Insight with the mugger tugging at the but by 1990 there were about 2.5 s Number of sex criminals
magazine, reports that there are gold chains that were around the private security personnel for every (rapists and child molesters)
now over five million school neck of Nicole Evans, 40, Friday public police officer. Today, the ratio released from jail in 1994 on
children on psychotropic drugs, morning outside a Bronx subway is probably at least three to one. parole or probation: 134,000.
most of which are prescribed and station. Consider [also] the market for s Number of sex criminals
administered in the government Card, a good kid, didn’t hesitate security alarms. Alarm sales who remained behind bars in
schools themselves. The Decem- when he leaped into action to increased by about 11% per year 1994: 99,300.
ber 1996 Teacher Magazine defend a woman he didn’t even in 1970, but this growth rate — NRA’s CrimeWatch Weekly,
reports that there are four million know. During the ensuing struggle, reached 15% in 1990. In 1970, February 18, 1997

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Defense & s Number of foreign countries innocent and the guilty. As a You would be hard-pressed to
where U.S troops were deployed result, the war on drugs has gone explain the taxonomy of chemicals
Military Spending in 1997: 100 beyond keeping the peace. It’s underpinning the drug war to an
s Republican prosecutors s Total number of countries become a threat to liberty. extraterrestrial. Is it, for example,
have spent the better part of the on the planet: 197 From asset forfeitures to home addictiveness that causes this
past year obsessively looking for s Percentage of countries invasions to military involvement, society to condemn a drug? (No;
a smoking gun to hold against the with U.S troops: 51% the war on drugs has taken nicotine is legal, and millions of
president. But they might have s Some countries where U.S. disturbing turns. Americans have battled addictions
dug up more dirt if they had troops were deployed, and their Among the more recent incidents, to prescription drugs.)
thought a little more literally: Bill mission: Haiti (dig water wells); a SWAT team broke into a Compton, So then, our inquisitive alien
Clinton is, after all, the world’s Congo (to evacuate 57 people and California, home at about 11 p.m. might ask, is safety the decisive
biggest arms dealer. one dog); Morocco (to supervise a on Aug. 9. They killed a retired factor? (Not really; over-the-
From 1993 to 1997, the civil war cease-fire); Cambodia and grandfather by shooting him twice counter and prescription drugs
Pentagon sold $70.6 billion in Laos (to clear land mines): Micro- in the back. His widow — handcuffed kill more than 45,000 Americans
weapons to virtually every nation nesia (to build a warehouse); Egypt and wearing only a towel and every year while, according to
on earth, including governments (to monitor the Israel/Egypt demil- panties, according to the Los The New England Journal of
that have used them against their itarized zone); Belize (to renovate Angeles Times — and six others Medicine, “There is no risk of
own people, notably Indonesia, schools and roads); Ecuador and were taken into custody. All were death from smoking marijuana.”)
Mexico, and Turkey. Peru (to monitor a disputed questioned. None was charged. Is it drugs associated with violent
— Mother Jones magazine, border region). By the way — no drugs were behavior that your society
April 1999 — U.S. Army News Releases, found on the property. But one condemns? (If so, alcohol would
May 23, 1997 & July 4, 1997 life was ended and others changed still be illegal.)
s Containing Saddam Hussein forever because those officers Perhaps, then, it is the promise
isn’t cheap. Frequent military build- Drug Prohibition were waging a war on drugs. of pleasure that puts a drug beyond
ups in the Persian Gulf since the — Investor’s Business Daily, the pale? (That would once again
s Though [New Mexico September 21, 1999 rule out alcohol, as well as Viagra.)
1991 war have cost the nation
Governor Gary] Johnson now Then maybe the molecules you
about $7 billion, in addition to
advocates a drug-free lifestyle, he s The boundary between despise are the ones that alter the
the tens of billions of dollars
still does not think drug users good and bad drugs is harder texture of consciousness, or even
some budget analysts estimate is
should be treated like criminals. than ever to draw. a human’s personality? Tell that
spent annually on maintaining a
“Did we belong in jail?” The same week that a Republican to someone who has been saved
strong U.S. military in the region.
Johnson asked the Cato audience, candidate for President spent from depression by Prozac.
The Pentagon does not release
noting that a felony record would struggling to compose ever more — Michael Pollan, New York
figures on the spending for day-to-
have prevented him from running tortuous non-denials of his drug Sunday Times Magazine,
day Gulf duties, [but] by private
for governor. “Does anybody use as a young man, a former September 12, 1999
budget analysts’ estimates, roughly
want to press a button and retro- Republican Presidential candidate
$50 billion of the annual $270
actively punish the 80 million could be seen in full-page adver- s Percentage of inmates at
billion in U.S. defense spending
Americans who have used drugs?” tisements forthrightly acknowledg- Joliet maximum security prison in
goes toward maintaining the Gulf
In 1997, Johnson noted, state ing his own use of another drug. Illinois who tested positive for
deployment and keeping the Iraqi
and local officials arrested 1.6 Oh, I know: two completely drugs in 1999: 2
president in line.
million people for drug offenses, different and incomparable s Percentage of prison
“You’ve got carriers, ground
and about 400,000 drug offenders situations; how unfair to Robert employees who tested positive: 4
troops in Kuwait, pre-positioned
are behind bars right now. Dole and the Pfizer pharmaceuti- — Playboy, August 2000
equipment all over and you’re
“I don’t think we can continue cal company even to mention
spending money on no-fly zones
to lock Americans up [for] bad them in the same paragraph as s Futile efforts to enforce
in northern and southern Iraq,”
choices,” he said. George W. Bush and cocaine. One [drug] prohibition have been
said Lawrence Korb, a former
— Reason, December 1999 concerns an illegal drug that pursued even more vigorously in
assistant secretary of defense.
Around the Gulf, U.S. forces people take strictly for pleasure. the 1980s and 1990s than they
s In the name of establishing The other concerns a legal drug were during alcohol prohibition
include at least 24,000 soldiers,
a drug-free society, overzealous that people take . . .well, also in the 1920s. Drug enforcement
sailors, and Marines, many on ships.
police have too often failed to strictly for pleasure, but (almost) cost about $22 billion in the
— Associated Press,
notice the difference between the always with a prescription. Reagan years and another $45
November 26, 1998

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billion in the four years of the said. “For this reason, numerous smuggled millions of dollars’ tion concluded.
Bush administration. The federal localities, including Houston, worth of cocaine onto the streets Nationally, only corn, soybeans,
government spent $16 billion on Oakland, and Seattle are scrapping of America’s cities. At that level, and hay rank as more profitable
drug control programs in 1998 the program.” it’s hard to see the difference crops to American farmers.
alone and plans to spend $18 Researchers tracked over 1,000 between successful infiltration — NORML Press Release,
billion this year. States and local students who participated in the and full-scale participation. October 15, 1998
communities spend even more. D.A.R.E. program in sixth grade. So, across the country,
What good has it all done? Well, They re-evaluated the students at undercover DEA agents are s Two new reports, one from
total drug arrests are now more age 20, ten years after receiving staking out undercover FBI agents the FBI and one from the General
than 1.5 million a year. There are the drug prevention education. who are selling drugs to under- Accounting Office (GAO), found
about 400,000 drug offenders in The study found that the program cover DEA agents who are staking that drug-related corruption
jails and prisons now, and over initially influenced the students’ out undercover ATF agents. among law enforcement has
80% of the increase in the federal perceptions towards drug use, but — Mark Steyn, The American increased since the early 1990s.
prison population from 1985 to concluded that these changes did Spectator, April 1999 The FBI report, “Misconduct to
1995 was due to drug convictions. not persist over time. Corruption,” found that the
Drug offenders are about 60% of all — NORML Foundation News s I agree that marijuana laws number of federal, state, and local
federal prisoners, while those in Release, July 29, 1999 are long overdue for an overhaul. officials in prison has increased
federal prison for violent offenses I also favor the medical use of fivefold in four years, from 107 in
are only 12.4% of the total. s While African-Americans and marijuana — if it’s prescribed by a 1994 to 548 in 1998.
As for discouraging young people Hispanics make up 20% of the physician. I cannot understand — The Drug Policy Letter,
from using drugs, the massive federal United States’ marijuana users (and why the federal government Summer 1998
effort has largely been a dud. Every about 20% of the population), they should interfere with the doctor-
year from 1975 to 1995 at least make up 58% of those arrested patient relationship, nor why it s In the early 1960s, the United
82% of high school seniors said for federal marijuana charges. would ignore the will of a Nations committed itself to elim-
they found marijuana “fairly easy” — The Drug Policy Letter, majority of voters who have inating the plant sources of cocaine,
or “very easy” to obtain. January/February 1999 legally approved such legislation. heroin, and marijuana in 25 years.
When a public policy isn’t — Abigail VanBuren, “Dear Abby,” The clock ran out in 1989. Instead
working, we should try something s Number of Americans March 1, 1999 of reevaluating its plan, the United
different. If spending more than arrested in 1997 for murder, Nations promised last June to get
$30 billion a year and arresting rape, robbery, and aggravated s Increased drug arrests and the job done in 10 years.
1.5 million people a year isn’t assault (combined): 717,720. longer prison sentences have not In 1989, President Bush
stopping drug use and abuse, then s Number of Americans slowed illegal drug use, according proposed cutting drug use 55% in
we should try a different strategy. arrested for marijuana offenses: to a study by the nation’s largest 10 years. In February, President
— David Boaz, The Albuquerque 695,200. organization of lawyers. Clinton introduced his plan to cut
Journal (New Mexico), s Percentage arrested for In a study, the American Bar drug use in half in 10 years,
August 23, 1999 possession: 87. Association’s Criminal Justice without mentioning Bush’s plan.
s Percentage of federal Section found that illicit drug use Not to be outdone, the speaker
s The nation’s largest federally prisoners incarcerated on drug increased 7% from 1996-1997. . . of the House of Representatives,
funded teen anti-drug program, charges: 59. [At the same time], the ABA Newt Gingrich, rejected Clinton’s
D.A.R.E., has no long-term effect s For violent crimes: 2.5. study found that 1.2 million people plan and declared that the timeline
on adolescent drug use, a new s Number of Americans in were arrested on drug charges in should be four, not 10, years.
study to be published in the August federal and state prisons in 1980 1997, a 73% increase over the — Rob Stewart, The Drug Policy
issue of the American Psychological for violating drug laws: 23,900. number of people arrested in 1992. Letter, Summer 1998
Association’s (APA) Journal of s Number of people in federal — Gary Fields, USA Today,
Consulting and Clinical Psychology and state prison in 1996 for February 4, 1999 s California law enforcement
found. violating drug laws: 292,794 arrested more citizens on mari-
“This study joins a growing — Playboy magazine, April 1999 s Marijuana remains the fourth- juana charges in 1997 than in any
body of academic research largest cash crop in America year since 1985, newly released
demonstrating D.A.R.E.’s ineffec- s In 1996, it was revealed despite law enforcement spending figures from the Bureau of
tiveness as a deterrent to youthful that, as part of their infiltration of approximately $10 billion annually Criminal Statistics revealed.
drug use,” NORML Foundation one Latin American drug cartel, to enforce prohibition, a new The rising number of arrests
Executive Director Allen St. Pierre federal agents had successfully report from the NORML founda- one full year after voters legalized

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the use of marijuana for medical stems from government policies. 90 hours of work in 1910; today it strong investor class. The new
purposes alarmed many activists Before 1914, Americans had the costs less than two minutes of work investor class is increasingly made
who question whether police are right to possess and use drugs. Of time. Cars at first seem to cost up of middle-class people. Recent
continuing to punish patients despite course there were abuses, but about the same as they did in the surveys show that during the 1990s,
the new law. Law enforcement there was no $400 million black 1970s. But they are now far safer, 49% of the newest investors have
arrested 57,667 Californians on market or widespread corruption pollute much less and are loaded been women. Thirty-eight percent
marijuana charges in 1997, the and violence, nor was there the with standard goodies like stereos of the new investors are non-
data showed. vastly disproportionate incarcera- that weren’t even options in 1970. professional salaried workers. The
— NORML Press Release, tion of non-whites, until the If there’s something sad about typical new stockowner earns less
August 7, 1998 Harrison Act of 1914 criminalized all this, it’s that so many Americans than $70,000.
drugs. Prohibition does not work. are convinced these improvements Karl Marx is both dead and
s Thomas Jefferson: states- — Joseph D. McNamara, The New are the fruits of reinvented govern- wrong. Through the stock market,
man, philosopher, drug kingpin. York Times, March 18, 1998 ment. As Michael Cox and Richard the American work force owns
As anyone who follows the Alm observe in Myths of Rich the means of production.
hemp movement knows, our third s Nearly 642,000 total and Poor: It’s not government — Lawrence Kudlow,
president grew cannabis on his marijuana arrests were made by policy that gave us drive-through The Washington Times,
Virginia farm. Lots of it. state and local law enforcement service, instant mail, [automatic] November 3, 1998
According to Marijuana News, during 1996, according to the teller machines, home shopping
published by an Ohio chapter of latest edition of the Federal networks, air-conditioned offices, Education
the National Organization for the Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) and much, much more.
Reform of Marijuana Laws, in Uniform Crime Report. It wasn’t public decree that s [In his book], The Con-
some seasons Jefferson raised This figure is an 80% increase raised life expectancies by 30 spiracy of Ignorance: The Failure
more than 100 acres of hemp, since 1990 and pushes the total years over the past century, or of American Public Schools,
which was used to make sailcloth number of marijuana arrests shortened our workweek by more author Martin L. Gross [notes]:
and rigging. With a typical yield under the Clinton administration than 20 hours. Over the past 200 s Since 1960, the number of
of 150 plants per square yard, to approximately 2.1 million. years, we’ve progressed not by teachers in the U.S. has doubled,
multiplied by 4,840 square yards The 1996 yearly arrest total the grace of government but by while the number of “support
per acre, that’s more than 70 for marijuana violations is the the mechanism of the market. personnel” has quadrupled.
million plants a year. highest ever recorded by the FBI. — Michael Fumento, Reason, s Would-be teachers usually
Under the 1995 Omnibus Of the 642,000 arrests made for April 1999 come from the bottom third of
Crime Control Act, anyone who marijuana in 1996, approximately their high school graduating classes.
cultivates more than 60,000 85% (545,700) were for simple s Without the wealthy, fewer s [Most] teacher exams are
marijuana plants is a “drug possession. new goods and services would geared towards the 10th-grade
kingpin,” subject to execution. In — The NORML Foundation, find their way to the rest of us. level. When Massachusetts
a single year, then, the author of October 7, 1997 The system harnesses the spending teachers were tested last year at a
the Declaration of Independence of a relative few and puts it to work somewhat higher standard, 59%
of them flunked.
qualified for the death penalty a The Economy & delivering goods to the many.
s 12% of all students now
thousand times over. Unequal income distribution
Noting that the Democratic the Free Market drives society forward. qualify for federal grants under
Party’s platform praises the drug A cellular phone costs just 2% the Individuals with Disabilities
s Adjusted for inflation, the
kingpin provision, Marijuana News of what it did a decade and a half Education Act.
hourly wage has fallen nearly
concludes, “If Thomas Jefferson ago, and computing power is less — Capital Ideas, September/
15% since 1973. So what? The
were alive today, William Jefferson than 1% of its 1984 real price. October 1999
only measure that counts is what
Clinton would execute him.” we can buy for the time we spend What better proof could there
— Reason magazine, June 1998 be that free enterprise is society’s s The next time you hear a
working.
greatest welfare program? politician or a National Education
A half-gallon of milk cost 10
s As a career police officer for — Michael Cox, Wall Street Association spokesperson say that
minutes of labor in 1970; and
35 years (including police chief of Journal, March 6, 1998 more money means better
only 7 minutes in 1997. A gallon
Kansas City, Missouri, and San schools, remind them of the
of gasoline cost 11 minutes in
Jose, California), I have seen the s Stock prices and retirement ignominious failure of the Kansas
1950 and now goes for less than
racism, violence, corruption, and wealth have become more City School District.
half that. A three-minute coast-to-
failure to curb drug abuse that important to the new 125 million- In response to a desegregation
coast phone call cost an incredible

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lawsuit and orders from U.S. educational improvement, why, s Reducing class size meets Environment &
District Judge Russell Clark, Kansas after 45 years of declining pupil- one Democratic criterion for a
City spent $2 billion building the teacher ratios, are [government] national program: It’s expensive. Global Warming
most expensive school system in schools so unsatisfactory they Eric Hanushek of the University of s [For people who wonder
the world. Beginning teacher need to be “revolutionized” by [Al Rochester notes that reducing the whether non-governmental
salaries rose from a low of Gore’s proposed] “investments”? size of the average classroom by groups can protect wilderness
$17,000 to a high of $47,851. — George F. Will, The Washington just one kid for one year costs areas], during 1999, The Nature
Fifteen new schools were Post, May 4, 2000 something like $350. Multiply that Conservancy took direct action to
constructed and 70 had additions by all the American children in bring 900,000 acres of biologi-
or renovations. The luxurious s The majority, 60%, of U.S. grammar school and you come up cally significant land in the United
facilities include a planetarium, a high school students don’t under- with $12 billion over seven years. States into conservation owner-
vivarium, greenhouses, a model stand the purpose of profits and But as Prof. Hanushek points out, ship or management.
United Nations wired for language think wages are set by the govern- there’s a problem here: There is That brings The Nature
translation, radio and television ment, according to the National little evidence that reducing class Conservancy’s 48-year total to
studios, movie editing and screening Council on Economic Education. size has any effect on education. well over 11 million acres, an
rooms, swimming pools, a zoo, a — USA Today, December 15, 1999 In fact, the nation has already run area larger than Switzerland.
farm, a wildland area, a tempera- the class-size experiment. — The Nature Conservancy
ture-controlled art gallery, and 15 s American schools, on In the past 45 years, the President’s Report,
computers per classroom. Students average, have 52.1 teachers [and average pupil-teacher ratio in this January 10, 2000
can study Suzuki violin, animal 47.8 people in non-teaching country fell by 35%. Many of our
science, and robotics. Language positions] — 15.2 in school staff, parents recall that they learned s Wilderness conservation has
instruction spans French to Swahili. 8.6 district staff, and 24 county- reading in classes with more than little to do with urban sprawl.
Despite the extraordinary and state-level bureaucrats out of 35 students. Many of our children Our cities, suburbs, highways, and
facilities and massive sums of every 100 education personnel. In are in classes with fewer than 25. local roads now cover about 60
money, student performance is so seven states — Michigan, Oklahoma, Yet with this dramatic change in million acres, well over double the
low that recently the state had to Indiana, Mississippi, Florida, New class size has come little or no area they occupied in 1920 — but
strip the Kansas City School Mexico and Alaska — more than improvement in performance. Data still under 3% of the land area of
District of its accreditation. The half of “education” personnel are from the National Assessment of the continental United States.
school district has fewer students not teachers. Rhode Island and Educational Progress show that, Most of what the wilderness
and is less integrated today than Hawaii have the highest number of despite shrinking classes, 17-year- has lost to Americans it has lost
in 1984 when Judge Clark took teachers — 63 per 100 education olds today perform about as well to our agriculture. For every acre
control of the school district in personnel. In almost all cases, the now as they did in 1970. of land we use for home or office,
order to achieve “mathematical bureaucrats earn more than — The Wall Street Journal, roads, and byways, we currently
racial balance.” teachers do. September 30, 1998 use six acres for crops. Another
— Paul Craig Roberts, — Center for Education Reform, eight acres are designated as range-
The Washington Times, August 17, 1999 s Percentage of Americans larders for our livestock, which,
December 9, 1999 who send their children to private pound for pound, outweigh us.
s Literacy levels have school: 14% Happily, however, our
s Pupil-teacher ratios have declined over the past 30 years, s Percentage of U.S. House agricultural footprint has been
been shrinking for a century. In despite significantly increased members who sent their children shrinking a lot faster than our
1955 pupil-teacher ratios in public resources for public schools: to private school: 34.4% cities have been sprawling. When
elementary and secondary schools s Inflation-adjusted per-pupil s Percentage of members of Europeans first arrived on this
were 30.2-to-one and 20.9-to-one expenditures have increased more the U.S. House Education continent, the area now represented
respectively. In 1998 they were than 14 times since 1920. Committee who send their by the lower 48 United States had
18.9-to-one and 14.7-to-one. s In 1955, there were 27 children to private school: 40% about 950 million acres of forest.
We now know it is possible to students per teacher; by 1990 s Percentage of U.S. Senators That area shrank steadily until
have, simultaneously, declining there were 17. who sent their children to private about 1920, to a low of 600
pupil-teacher ratios and declining s In 1949, there were 19 school: 50% million acres, as Americans spread
scores on tests measuring schools’ pupils per staff member; by 1990 — Nina H. Shokraii, The Heritage across the landscape.
cognitive results. there were nine. Foundation, September 9, 1997 Then, astonishingly, we began
If making classes smaller is — David Kirkpatrick, School to retreat, and the wilderness
such an effective route to Reform News, May 1999 began to expand once again.

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Precisely how fast is hard to nail s While environmentalists rail in 2050 done for me? took place prior to the spewing of
down: The continent is large, most against the use of fossil fuels, the My actual conduct belies that so-called greenhouse gases from
of the land is privately owned, federal government spends tens sentiment. I own a nice home that cars and the like, meaning that the
and the definitional debates rage. of millions of dollars every year is well cared for. Trees have been rise is most likely natural. During
But all analyses show more, not subsidizing the use of fossil fuels. planted, rooms added, and many the past 20 years, weather satellites
less, forest land in America today For instance, in fiscal year other improvements have been inform us, atmospheric tempera-
— somewhere between 20 million 1997, fossil energy research and made that will outlast me and be tures have actually cooled some.”
and 140 million acres more — development at the Department available for that kid born in 2050. — Jay Ambrose, Scripps Howard
than in 1920. Roughly 80 million of Energy received $365 million. Part of the reason I made sacrifices News Service, August 2, 1997
more acres of cropland were The Clean Coal Technology in current consumption to improve
harvested 60 years ago than are Program (CCTP), which subsidizes my house is that the longer it s “The climate warming of the
harvested today. additional coal-related research, provides housing services, the more past 100 years, which occurred
— Peter Huber, The Washington has cost taxpayers approximately I get when the house is sold. mainly before 1940, in no way
Post, April 21, 2000 $1.5 billion since its inception. The free market and private supports the results of computer
— Intellectual Ammunition property rights do not produce a models that predict a drastic future
s You never hear about the (The Heartland Institute), Utopia; we’ll have to wait for warming. Even [the U.N.’s] Inter-
1997 survey of 36 official state March/April 1999 heaven for that. But here on Earth, governmental Panel on Climate
climatologists finding that 58% private property rights and free Change Chairman Bert Bolin has
disagreed with President Clinton’s s In the early 1990s, the markets beat any other social admitted that the pre-1940 warming
claim that “the overwhelming National Toxic Campaign Fund (a arrangements in serving is likely a natural recovery from a
balance of evidence and scientific private environmental advocacy mankind’s needs. previous, natural cooling.”
opinion is that it is no longer a group) labeled the military — Walter Williams, — S. Fred Singer, President, The
theory, but now fact, that global establishment the nation’s worst The Washington Times, Science & Environmental Policy
warming is for real.” Nine out of polluter, responsible for more than August 16, 1998 Project, The Wall Street Journal,
10 agreed that “scientific evidence 14,000 “toxic hot spots” at military July 25, 1997
indicates variations in global bases around the nation. The s “There is not a shred of
temperature are likely to be environmental group estimated persuasive evidence that humans Farm Policy
naturally occurring and cyclical that, in 1989, the defense Depart- have been responsible for
over very long periods of time.” ment generated 900 million increasing global temperatures. s Another absurdity arising
Further, last year more than pounds of hazardous waste. During the past 50 years, as atmo- from the latest farm [subsidy bill
15,000 scientists signed a petition No private business, or combin- spheric carbon dioxide levels have being considered in Washington,
declaring, “There is no convincing ation of companies, has anywhere risen, scientists have made precise DC]: How can the Congress
scientific evidence that human near such a devastating impact on measurements of atmospheric consider relief simultaneously for
release of carbon dioxide, methane America’s environment. Neverthe- temperature. These measurements poor prices and poor production?
or other greenhouse gases is causing less, because of poorly drafted laws have definitively shown that Some farmers in the Midwest are
or will, in the foreseeable future, and regulations, the public continues major greenhouse warming of the to receive money because there
cause catastrophic heating of the to associate environmental degra- atmosphere is not occurring and are too many harvests, others in
Earth’s atmosphere and disrup- dation exclusively with businesses. is unlikely ever to occur.” the East because there are too
tion of the Earth’s climate.” — Murray Weidenbaum, — Arthur Robinson few. By this strange rationale,
The petitioners strongly urged The Washington Times, & Zachary Robinson, farmers are to be paid whether
rejection of the accord signed in September 26, 1998 The Wall Street Journal, they lose their crops to drought,
Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 committing December 4, 1997 or produce a surfeit and thus help
the United States to drastic, s Private property serves a saturate the market.
incredibly costly reductions in vital social function often ignored s “Unfortunately for the If there were no drought in
emissions of these gases, declaring or trivialized. You don’t have to [global warming] theoreticians, the East, farmers of some crops
it “would harm the environment, be a keen observer to notice that computer models they have there would be subsidized for
hinder the advance of science and privately owned property tends to constructed predict one thing, producing too much and getting
technology, and damage the receive better care than commu- while the climate keeps doing paid too little; if there were
health and welfare of mankind.” nally owned property. I’ve often other things. Although tempera- natural calamity throughout the
— Michael Fumento, said that I don’t care that much tures have gone up something Midwest, farmers would be paid
The Washington Times, about future generations. What more than one degree Fahrenheit for producing too little rather
July 8, 1999 has a kid who’s going to be born over the past century, the increase than too much. We need an

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Orwell to figure out why some Illinois, and North Carolina have a year before. for her lost investment. So she
are considered in need and not enacted laws requiring that burgers There was a time when opened a casket store. The first in
others, or why low prices bring as be cooked medium to medium well. reformers thought the answer Atlanta, her store offers caskets at
much federal aid as high prices, — The Wall Street Journal, was to elect Republicans. Give the prices far below those of funeral
or why a kind nature is as bad as July 15, 1999 GOP control of Congress, it was homes.
an adverse one. said, and they will rein in the For doing so she’s facing a
— Victor Davis Hanson, The Wall s Who are the heaviest-duty regulators. penalty of up to a year in prison
Street Journal, August 10, 1999 regulators? Try the Department of Now we know better. Four years and a $1,000 fine. Georgia law
Transportation, Environmental ago, Congress enacted the Cong- allows only licensed funeral
s For some farmers, the best Protection Agency, Treasury Depart- ressional Review Act, which requires directors to sell caskets. This, of
crop is the one they don’t harvest. ment, Department of Agriculture, all agencies to submit their rules course, is to protect the public.
In west Texas last year, 200 and Department of Health and to Congress. Lawmakers then Ask Jim Fowler, executive
farmers obtained federally Human Services. The report have 60 days to use an expedited director of the Georgia Funeral
subsidized insurance on a type of calculates there are 117 rules in process to block the proposals. Directors Association. “The
cotton that wasn’t feasible to the works that will cost businesses Not once has Congress acted. majority of the population, I feel,
grow in their arid region. They and consumers more than $100 Perhaps every regulation will still want to deal with someone
paid $4.4 million in premiums million annually; 38 of those will advanced by the administration who is experienced in service with
and then claimed nearly $15 come from the EPA. Another 70 has been a good one. All 4,684 families upon the death of a loved
million in benefits when most of rules costing more than $100 final rules issued in 1999. And the one. Folks in a retail establishment
the crop failed. million were finalized last year. 4,899 implemented the year are not those types of people.”
Farmers in North Dakota and — The Washington Post, before. And the 4,584 imposed in Critics charge that Georgia
surrounding states recently April 9, 1999 1997. More than 14,167 new funeral homes, thanks to this mono-
rushed out and bought seed for regulations passed after Congress poly, charge consumers markups
durum wheat, even in areas not s Regulation has become approved the CRA, and appar- of 300% to 700% on caskets.
suited for the crop, to take America’s version of socialism. ently not one warranted rejection. — The Liberator Online,
advantage of a new insurance A recent report from the — Doug Bandow, The Washington October 17, 1998
policy offering benefits far higher Competitive Enterprise Institute, Times, June 6, 2000
than they could earn if they grew Ten Thousand Commandments, s On average, for every new
and sold ordinary wheat. tallies the price tag for imple- s Shortly after the National law passed by Congress, unelected
The [crop insurance] program menting and sustaining federal Maximum Speed Limit was bureaucrats turn out 18 new
has been costing the government regulations. The grand total is repealed in 1995, the National regulations with the force of law.
more than $1.5 billion a year, and $688 billion per year. Highway Traffic Safety Adminis- — Paul Harvey, Imprimis,
Congress is considering doubling More than 4,400 new tration (NHTSA) predicted that an October 1998
that to improve the coverage and regulations seeped through the additional 6,400 motorists’ deaths
make it less costly to producers — bureaucratic pipeline last year, would occur annually, as a result s For four decades, [auto]
[even though] government imposing at least $12.5 billion of rising speed limits. safety experts all assumed that
auditors say the insurance system yearly in future costs. Now the most recent NHTSA safer models were better. Now
is riddled with abuse, conflicts of [At least] 125 rules qualified reports show the exact opposite federal officials say we were
interest, and errors because for “economically significant” occurred: 1997 had the lowest wrong the whole time. National
taxpayers bear most of the risk status: They will cost at least $100 traffic death rate in the nation’s Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
for losses, not the private million apiece annually. history. In 1996, the traffic tration honchos believe that
companies that sell and service —Dan Miller, Intellectual accident death rate was 1.7 per because the occupants of heavier
the policies. Ammunition, November/ 100 million miles driven. This vehicles fare better in crashes
— Philip Brasher, Associated December 1998 number dropped in 1997 to 1.6 with lighter vehicles, the heavier
Press, April 1, 1999 per million miles driven. vehicles are a safety problem.
s The Clinton administration — National Motorists Association Oddly, the government is not
Government has some 4,538 regulations in Press Release, October 1998 mandating that small cars be
process, 137 of which are strengthened.
Regulation “economically significant” and s When the casket company Lighter cars mandated by
s Add the medium-rare burger will cost at least $100 million she worked for went belly-up, government fuel-economy
to the endangered list of American each. The number of these big executive and stockholder Thelma standards are already causing
vices. States including California, rules is up nearly a fifth from just Jaco was given caskets in return 2,200 to 3,900 deaths annually,

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according to a study by the Consider last fall’s budget s So what happens when a s The federal government is
Brookings Institution and compromise. Way back in 1997, surplus appears? Politicians slated to spend over $200 billion
Harvard. Paramedics, who witness the president and Congress devour it. [Economist Richard] on highways over the next several
traffic accidents daily, tend to put agreed that in fiscal year 2000, Vedder and his Ohio University years, [while at the same time]
their families in SUVs, pickups, or the federal government would colleague Lowell Galloway have the Environmental Protection
large cars. Let the bureaucrats spend no more than $580 billion studied government budgets since Agency (EPA) is doling out taxpayer
and insurance executives leave from its discretionary accounts. 1789 and discovered the following: dollars to support anti-highway
their luxury cars and limousines No matter: President Clinton In the last 50 years, 74 cents of activism at the state and local
and drive the subcompacts they proposed spending $592 billion. every surplus dollar has gone for level.
recommend to us. After much wrangling, Congress new spending, 21 cents for debt According to Peter Samuel,
— David C. Stolinsky, Wall Street managed to get him to agree to reduction, and five cents for tax editor of the Toll Roads Newsletter,
Journal, April 15, 1998 spend a mere $617 billion. reduction. the EPA’s “Transportation Part-
“This is how agreements are — Tony Snow, The Washington ners” program derides road-
s Standards for organic food made in Washington,” says Scott Times, July 30, 1999 building as “an expensive short-
can be handled much more Hodge, a budget analyst at Citizens term fix” that (heaven forbid)
cheaply, much more simply, and for a Sound Economy. “The presi- s Nearly $6 of every $10 of “encourages driving,” and is
with much less bureaucracy, by dent requests a level of spending, Superfund money is used for funding 340 groups in 43 states
private industry. Organic farmers Congress approves a slightly lower purposes other than toxic materials that feel the same way.
could get together and form a amount, and after they negotiate clean-up, according to a report Recipients of EPA’s anti-road
standards association. Farmers they compromise at a higher level issued by the General Accounting largess range from the Bicycle
and food merchants would submit than even the president asked for.” Office. The majority of all Superfund Federation of America to the Envi-
to regular inspections by This dynamic was on display money, the GAO found, goes to ronmental Defense Fund. Thus,
employees of the association, and in the agriculture research bill, overhead expenses —salaries for American tax dollars don’t just pay
if they meet the standards, they which funds such worthy items as managers and secretaries, rent, and for roads, they also pay for the
can display a certificate attesting blueberry research and aquacul- laboratory work. The GAO also found campaign to stop building them.
to that fact. Violators would be ture studies. Clinton requested the percentage of money spent on — Competitive Enterprise Institute
subject to civil and criminal action $469 million, the Senate ap- cleanup has been declining for UpDate, January 1999
under existing fraud statutes, with proved $474 million, and they several years.
no need for any additional laws compromised at $486 million. — Environmental News, s Debate over the size and
or regulations. In the case of education, August 1999 scope of government has long
In a free market, anyone who congressional leadership actually been the stuff of politics, and the
thinks one association’s standards bragged that they spent $1 billion s Tens of billions of taxpayer upcoming presidential election
are too lax or too strict would be more than the president requested. dollars are wasted each year on will be no different. Al Gore is
free to start another association — Michael W. Lynch, Reason, hundreds of federal programs that certain to advertise his credentials
which could issue its own certificates. March 2000 duplicate or overlap the work of as a “New Democrat” by taking
Utopian? Impractical? Not neces- other programs. For example, there credit for nearly 400,000 jobs cut
sarily. That’s how kosher food has s In a study funded by the EPA, are 74 clean water programs, 127 from the federal payroll over the
been regulated for centuries. Kip Viscusi and James Hamilton programs for “at-risk” youth, 340 past five years.
— Charles Lembke, KNX Radio, (1999) have found that EPA clean- programs for children and families, To see the true picture one
May 19, 1998 ups of Superfund sites cost an 64 economic development pro- must count all the heads,
average of almost $12 billion for grams, and 12 food safety programs. including full-time federal civil
Government Size, every cancer case prevented. Even — Citizens for a Sound Economy servants, uniformed military
more amazing is that virtually all Issues Analysis, April 2, 1999 personnel, postal workers, and
Cost, & Waste — 99.5% — of the cancer cases people who deliver goods and
s The standard definition of a that will be averted by EPA efforts s Government employment at services on behalf of the federal
compromise is that each side gives are prevented by the first 5% of all levels rose by 324,000 in 1998, government under contracts,
up something to facilitate a deal. In the agency’s expenditures. The the largest increase in eight years, grants, and mandates to state and
Washington, however, compromise remaining 95% of expenditures the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute local government.
means that both sides get more avert only 0.5% of the cancer of Government at State University When all those numbers are
than they originally asked for; cases at a cost per case of an of New York in Albany reported. added together, the federal
only taxpayers are asked to give astonishing $200 billion. — The Wall Street Journal, government looks very big
something up. — PERC Reports, December 1999 June 1, 1999 indeed. In 1996, the most recent

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year for which good numbers are extra $3.00. hospitals not to train doctors, to anti-gun view, a new study concludes.
available, the true size of govern- Over the same period, the reduce the doctor glut: $9.7 billion. “It’s clear that when it comes
ment was just under 17 million, average federal employee has — Amy Goldstein, The Washington to the gun debate, TV news is not
or roughly 10 times as large as taken home five times more in Post, August 24, 1997 an objective referee. It is a
the head count Mr. Clinton used additional compensation than his partisan player that has chosen
when he announced the end of private sector counterpart. s Number of Americans sides,” said L. Brent Bozell III,
big government. That 17 million The average state and local exposed to radiation by the chairman of the Media Research
includes the 1.8 million civil government worker now earns federal government’s Cold War Center, which released the study,
servants in the president’s head over 30% more than the average nuclear tests: 230,000 “Outgunned: How the Network
count, plus 1.5 million uniformed private sector worker, while the s Number of Americans who News Media are Spinning the Gun
military personnel, 850,000 postal average federal non-military may develop fatal thyroid cancer Control Debate.”
workers, 5.6 million contract em- employee earns 50% more. because of government nuclear The two-year study analyzed
ployees (of whom 4 million were — Adrian T. Moore, Reason, tests: 10,000 to 75,000 635 stories on gun policy by four
working under service contracts), February 1998 — Steve Sternberg, USA Today, major networks — ABC, CBS, CNN
2.5 million grant employees, and August 4, 1997 and NBC — and found that while
4.7 million state and local employ- s In the year Newt Gingrich 260 stories could be classified as
ees encumbered under federal became Speaker of the House, s Amount of money the U.S. neutral, stories that advocated
mandates. federal outlays totaled $1.46 Senate spent from 1992-1997 to more gun control outnumbered
Although the contract, grant, trillion. This year, federal outlays subsidize haircuts at the Senate stories that opposed such
and mandate numbers are esti- are expected to hit $1.7 trillion. Barber Shop & Beauty Salon: $1.8 measures, 357 to 36.
mates, they suggest the presence By 2002, they are expected to hit million “That translates into an
of a huge shadow workforce that $1.9 trillion. s In 1998, amount of money astounding 10-to-l ratio of news
accounted for 64 jobs per 1,000 “It is hard to grasp amounts so the U.S. Senate spent to subsidize segments advocating gun control
Americans in 1996 — not the 11 unfathomably huge, but here is an haircuts: $180,000 — hardly what any objective
per 1,000 advertised in that exercise that may help: Add s Salaries earned by the federal observer would consider balance,”
year’s federal budget. together every penny the federal employees of the Senate Barber said Mr. Bozell.
— Paul C. Light, The Wall Street government spent from 1800 to Shop & Beauty Salon: Barber Good Morning America was
Journal, January 13, 1999 1940. Adjust the total upward to ($62,000 a year); receptionist the most anti-gun program,
reflect nearly two centuries of ($47,000); shoe-shine attendant according to the MRC study, with
s In the first-ever independent inflation. You will wind up with ($27,400). 99.7% of its stories advocating
audit of the federal government, less than the $1.7 trillion — Ed Henry, Roll Call, October 13, gun control.
number of the 24 major agencies budgeted for this fiscal year. 1997 & Andrew Moulton, — The Washington Times,
that received a passing grade for — Jeff Jacoby, Syndicated The Washington Post, January 6, 2000
keeping basic records in order: Columnist, November 3, 1997 November 28, 1997
Eight. s My guess is that if you go out
Value of military equipment s Amount of money the gov- Gun Rights and ask people how many gun
that cannot be located: $636 ernment has spent on the “War deaths involve children under age
s Guns, like drugs, save lives
billion (including a $1 million on Cancer” since 1971: $30 billion 5, or under age 10, in the United
and money. Research shows that
surface-to-air missile launcher, a s Change in America’s cancer States, they’re going to say
citizens use guns two and a half to
$423,000 Howitzer cannon, two death rate: Increased from 199 thousands. When you tell them
five times more often to prevent
$875,000 harbor tugboats, and deaths per 100,000 population to that in 1996 there were 17 gun
crimes than to commit them. Indeed,
two $4 million jet engines). 200.9 deaths deaths for children under age 5 in
firearms are the most effective way
— Playboy, November 1998 — Steve Sternberg, USA Today, the United States and 44 for
to protect oneself against criminals
May 29, 1997 children under age 10, they’re
— which is why police carry guns
s Economist Wendell Cox has just astounded.
rather than going unarmed or
discovered that since 1980, for s Amount of money the There’s a reason why they
carrying knives.
every inflation-adjusted dollar of federal government spends believe these deaths occur much
—H. Sterling Burnett, The Las
extra compensation (wages and annually to train new doctors: $7 more frequently: If you have a
Vegas Review-Journal,
benefits) the average private billion gun death in the home involving
December 21, 1999
sector employee has earned, the s Amount of money the a child under age 5, you’re going
average state and local govern- federal government might spend s Network television news- to get national news coverage.
ment employee has received an over the next several years to pay casts overwhelmingly promote an Five times more children drown

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in bathtubs; more than twice as s Are gun locks, as President golf, however, Switzerland is any- by non-resident foreigners, whom
many drown in five-gallon water Clinton says, a “no brainer”? Yes, thing but “dull.” By car or train, locals call “criminal tourists.”
buckets around the home. But indeed. The lock-up-the-guns you see shooting ranges every- — Stephen P. Halbrook, The Wall
those deaths do not get national proposal is great — as long as one where, but few golf courses. If Street Journal (Europe), June 4,
news coverage. doesn’t think about it carefully. there is a Schuetzenfest (shooting 1999
This type of news coverage has Contrary to the impression festival) in town, you will find rifles
consequences, because it affects created by sensationalist media, slung on hat racks in restaurants, s While gun ban proponents
people’s perceptions of the benefits fatal firearms accidents involving and you will encounter men and and several big cities continue to
and costs of having guns around. children are far from common. women, old and young, walking, push forward with their reckless
Concentrating on gun deaths in According to the National Safety biking and taking the tram with lawsuits against firearm manufac-
the home, exaggerating the risks Council, there were about 30 fatal rifles over their shoulders, to and turers, distributors, and dealers, a
of that, creates a false impression. gun deaths in 1995 among kids from the range. They stroll right recent study by the National Center
People are going to die because age 0 to 4, and less than 40 for past the police station and no one for Policy Analysis has exposed
of that false impression. They’re kids 5 to 9. This shows that even bats an eye. (Try this in the U.S., the suits as being in conflict with
not going to have guns in the home, without legislation from Washing- and a SWAT team might do you in.) their alleged goal — recovering
even though that’s by far the safest ton, the overwhelming majority Shooting is the national sport, the cost to the cities due to the
course of action for them to take of families with firearms already and the backbone of the national action of criminals and negligent
when they’re confronted by a know how to act responsibly. defense as well. More per-capita individuals’ misuse of firearms.
criminal. You may prevent some Any parent knows that a single firepower exists in Switzerland NCPA’s study indicates that
of the accidental deaths, but child’s death is unspeakably than in any other place in the firearms in the hands of law-
you’re going to create other types tragic. Yet the number of toddlers world, yet it is one of the safest abiding citizens save far more
of deaths because people won’t be who die from gun accidents is places to be. money in preventing crime and
able to defend themselves. fewer than the number who die According to the U.N. Interna- injuries than criminals cost the
— John Lott, Reason, January 2000 from drowning in buckets. And tional Study on Firearm Regulation, cities through their misuse of
it’s much lower than the 500 who England’s 1994 homicide rate was firearms. The net financial benefit
s “Gun control? It’s the best die in swimming pools. Yet the 1.4 (9% involving firearms), and to this country because of firearms,
thing you can do for crooks and President is not scoring political the robbery rate 116, per 100,000 according to the study, ranges as
gangsters. I want you to have points inveighing against bucket population. In the United States, high as $38.8 billion, easily dwarfing
nothing. If I’m a bad guy, I’m manufacturers, or demanding the homicide rate was 9.0 (70% the medical and law-enforcement
always gonna have a gun. Safety federal laws against unfenced involving firearms), and the costs incurred because of the
locks? You pull the trigger with a pools in private homes. Politics, robbery rate 234, per 100,000. actions of armed criminals.
lock on and I’ll pull the trigger not saving children’s lives, is the [But] Switzerland, which is A copy of this study can be
[without a safety lock]. We’ll see foundation of the current anti-gun awash in guns . . . has substan- found at http://www.ncpa.org.
who wins.” (Mobster Sammy “The campaign. tially lower murder and robbery — NRA-ILA [National Rifle
Bull” Gravano, interviewed by — Dave Kopel & Eugene Volokh, rates than England, where most Association/Institute for
Howard Blum.) Independence Institute Feature guns are banned. Legislative Action] Fax Alert,
— Vanity Fair, September 1999 Syndicate, June 3, 1999 Here are the figures: The Swiss March 26, 1999
Federal Police Office reports that
s President Clinton goes on s In 1994, when the U.S. in 1997 there were 87 intentional s A recent study by John Lott
Good Morning America to advance Congress debated whether to ban homicides and 102 attempted and David Mustard of the Univer-
what he calls the “common sense” “assault weapons,” a talk show homicides in the entire country. sity of Chicago published in the
idea that guns should be registered host asked then-Senator Bill Bradley Some 91 of these 189 murders and Journal of Legal Studies found
just like cars. (NJ), a sponsor of the ban, attempts involved firearms. With that concealed handgun laws
At last check there was no federal whether guns cause crime. The its population of seven million reduced murder by 8.5% and
DMV, no waiting period to buy cars, host noted that, in Switzerland, (including 1.2 million foreigners), severe assault by 7% from 1977
and no limit on the number of cars all males are issued assault rifles Switzerland had a homicide rate to 1992. Had “right-to-carry” laws
you can buy. Nor do the feds monitor for militia service and keep them of 1.2 per 100,000. There were been in effect throughout the
car sales between individuals. at home, yet little crime exists 2,498 robberies (and attempted country, there would have been
Yet Clinton and other gun-grabbers there. Sen. Bradley responded robberies), of which 546 involved 1,600 fewer murders and 60,000
continue to make the analogy. that the Swiss “are pretty dull.” firearms, resulting in a robbery fewer assaults every year.
— Reason magazine, August/ For those who think that rate of 36 per 100,000. Almost half — Investors Business Daily,
September 1999 target shooting is more fun than of these crimes were committed January 8, 1998