From: GA.JRG@forsythe.stanford.edu (June Genis)
Subject: Re: Perot and libertarians (was Re: THINK AND GROW RICH)
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Distribution: ba
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 22:20:11 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.155125.17551@kpc.com>,
emmett@kpc.com (Emmett Kilgariff) writes:
>In article <920414.2130298226@lacan.postmodern.com> mcb@lacan.postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) writes:
>>In the referenced article, c162-av@danube.Berkeley.EDU
>>Neeraj, I'm afraid those two are pretty much mutually exclusive--
>>While Perot may have some interesting ideas here and there, he is NOT
>>a libertarian nor is he, to my mind, friendly to libertarian ideals.
>>
>>Specifically:
>>1. He would escalate, not end, the so-called "War on Drugs" (War on
>>Civil Liberties), and he speaks of police sweeps of minority
>>neighborhoods, multi-agency raids, and "military" tactics.
>>
>        I have heard this, but have yet to see a quote where he
>actually said this. The closest I've seen is a magazine reporter
>paraphrasing. What is the exact quote? Allegedly, he said this
>at a media round table. Everybody was probably taking notes.
>Why hasn't anybody used his qote on this verbatim?

Probably because at the time he made the statement he wasn't a
perspective candidate for president.  The reference I aw to it
refered to a 1990 biography on him but I haven't see the original
source material (the biography) so I'm not sure if the author quotes
or paraphrases him there.

>        My guess is that he didn't say 'minority' and the
>reporter read what he wanted to into what he said.

Do you have evidence to base this assumption on or are you just
trying to make the man match the image you'd like to have of him?

>>3. He would restrict political speech and the news media (limit
>>campaigning, ban exit polls) and is not bothered by the apparent First
>>Amendment issues.
>>
>        Both of these can be accomplished without limiting free speach.
>For instance: in political campaigns:
>        1) Matching federal funds only becomes effective after a certain date.
>        2) Free air time (to reduce the amount of money needed to campaign)
>           starts after a certain time.
>        3) Work with the large parties to move their primaries/conventions
>           closer to the election.

The Supreme Court had already ruled that it is a violation of the
first amendment to limit the amount of money a candidate may spend
on his or her own campaign. If they hadn't it would not be legal for
Perot to finance his own campaign with $100,000.  Libertarians, of
course, also object to federal matching funds because they require
people to finance political positions they don't agree with.
Anyone who really wants to see a level playing field is free now to
contribute equally to everyone running for a particular office.

There is no such things as "free" air time.  Either the government
is going to have to reimburse broadcasters, presenting the same
problem as matching funds, or they will extort the time as a
condition for license renewal, that is, under threat of force.

>>4. He would increase, not decrease, government intervention into the
>>economy, under the guide of "management".  This would
>>include restrictions/penalties on international transactions.
>>
>        Specifically, what restrictions or penalties?

Perot has made vague statements to the effect that American
businesses "shouldn't be able" to deal with foreign countries when
it's bad for our country.  He has opposed the free trade agreement
with Mexico on these sort of grounds.

>>5. He has stated that he would run the country "like he ran EDS".
>>At EDS, it was forbidden to have a beard, there was a strict
>>conservative dress code, and you could get fired for having an
>>extramarital affair.
>>
>        When did he say he'd run it like EDS?

I don't know that he's said "like EDS" specifically but he has
certainly said that the government needs to be run more like a
business and there is no reason to believe that he doesn't think
what was good for EDS's business isn't good for all business.

/June