CATO Institute says Americans owe Dean thanks for killing public financing

[pruner]

Howard Dean Signs the Death Certificate for Taxpayer Financing

by John Samples
John Samples is director of the Center for Representative Government at the Cato Institute.

Liberal Democrats don't usually declare a government program dead. Yet Howard Dean just did. He has declared an end to the long and useless life of taxpayer financing of presidential campaigns. Americans owe him a vote of thanks.

<snip>

The presidential program has not increased electoral competition compared to the system of private financing it replaced. We have seen fewer candidates in the party presidential primaries since 1976 than in elections before that time. The two most successful independent candidates for the presidency of the last 50 years -- George Wallace and H. Ross Perot -- both ran without public backing. On the other side, taxpayers have had to give millions of dollars to political extremists like Lyndon LaRouche and Lenora Fulani.

Finally, and most important, Americans simply do not like public financing of campaigns in general and the presidential program in particular. Participation in the tax form check-off has dropped like a stone since 1982. Currently, just a shade over 10 percent of Americans participate in the check-off. If current trends continue, only 5 percent of Americans will check the box by 2008. American taxpayers have spent $2 billion on presidential public funding since 1976. They have received little, if anything, for their money. If Howard Dean's decision to forego public funding kills the program, it will be one kind of physician-assisted euthanasia that all taxpayers should support.

http://www.cato.org/dailys/11-17-03.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. author of article ignores that George W.

Author of article ignores that George W. in 2000 was the first major party candidate to opt out since the post-Watergate rules were written.

Howard Dean can't take on George W. playing by different rules.

[stickdog]

2. Definitely all Dean's fault for not unilaterally disarming & losing

like a good Wimpocrat.

[blm]

3. Dean is CATO's favorite Democrat for many years now.

He was the most Libertarian of all the Democratic lawmakers. He pushed deregulation in his state and cut social programs to balance the budget, and set aside some environmental laws for favored corporations.

Of course CATO loves Dean, they HATE real Democrats.

[bleedingheart]

4. Why would I care what the Libertarian Cato Institute says?