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Show Pag 2 Magna Tlma-Thurdo- January 21 , 1982 y. An Editorial The Crisis in Central America FROM THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION For more than 20 years, Cubas bearded dictator Fidel Castro and his friends in Moscow have been trying, with little success, to export Communism to Latin America. Suddenly they seem to be succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. The Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua has given them a much more effective base for the spread of revolution in the heart of Central America. Now an armed camp, Nicaragua is swarming with Cuban and East German advisers. Tanks and tons of arms have been shipped in by the Soviets and their satellites. Pilots are being trained in Bulgaria to fly Russian-buiMIGs, which are on the way. Nicaragua has become a key staging area to provide weapons and training for leftist guerrillas in El Salvador, as well as terrorist opera- tire Western Hemisphere. The Reagan Administration recently derailed a $30 million loan to Nicaragua from the Development Bank. But the Sandin-ista- s are so firmly in control by now that only military, not economic, force could dislodge them. Inter-Americ- WASHINGTON. D.C. an Top Washington officials have rejected the idea of dispatching U.S. troops to the region, though they havent ruled out the possibility of WHO ARE THE TRULY NEEDY? By Edwin Feulner How would you like to donate three buses to a rich ski resort or pay for translation of Playboy magazine into Braille? Well, according to Congressman Jerry Solomon its too late. As United States taxpayers, you a naval blockade to intercept arms shipments. already did. At a minimum, we should be pressuring the The federal budget now comes to more than $700 Organization of American States and other billion a year, but some members of Congress just cant lt Latin American allied groups to take swift joint Find the nerve to make any cuts. The 1982 budget, actually, action to stop the spread of terror and revoluwill be more than $50 billion greater than the 1981 budget, in Central fah dominoes more before tion any even after the budget cuts are implemented. Despite this America. $50 billion increase, many legislators still argue that belt now action Failure to take" firm and effective tions against neighboring Colombia, tightening will result in millions of Americans being thrown will only increase the danger and reduce the opout into the streets. But I wondered about that when I Guatemala and Costa Rica. This rapid build-u- p looked at some examples pointed out by Representative tions available to the U.S. and its Latin allies. of arms and terror poses a grave threat to the en- Solomon: An affluent ski resort in Aspen, Colorado, will get gjirf-fciiCTQC- G three new buses, courtesy of a recent federal grant. Total cost to transport the rich vacationers to the slopes? $352,000. LET CONGRESS VETO REGULATIONS The Library of Congress spends $100,000 a year to reproduce and distribute a Braille edition of Playboy S. Wilson Johnson by magazine. The pictures are obviously not reproduced in As part of an effort to reform regulatory procedures. Braille, but the jokes and advice columns are. When Congress passes legislation and the president signs it The National Endowment for Arts and Humanities into law, that is but the beginning of the process. Elected Congress will soon consider a concept called legislative was established to enrich this countrys cultural life. To officials have nothing further to do with how that law is im- veto. The idea is to give Congress the power to reject any that end, last year the agency paid a music teacher $90,000 plemented. Instead, appointed administrators and career rule or regulation that goes beyond the original intent of the to compose and produce historical musicals. For our money bureaucrats take over and write the regulations that bring the law. Some say Congress already has oversight responsi- we received a musical on Watergate, including the chorus: laws for the it as it but exists cannot law to life. bility passes, oversight works! It really works! federal excesses the the of In the regulatory explosion of the 60s and 70s, regula- remedy bureaucracy because Even when evil lurks. tory agencies mushroomed. Some likened them to a fourth Congress, does not have the power to keep regulations from When men in high places try to administer owners the result taking effect. branch of government. For A cover-u- p of something sinister. For small business, legislative veto would provide an avewas an avalanche of paperwork with which they were not There really is a solution. for nue does which now not exist. appeal Large corporations, Because we uphold our Constitution. prepared to cope. with their teams of lawyers, statisticians and computers, can Since 1974, the National Federation of Independent You dont have to be a critic of the arts to wonder if we Business (NFIB) has been surveying members quarterly to work directly with regulatory agencies or even go to court to got our moneys worth. s determine the main economic problems they face. Govern- challenge unfair or inequitable regulations. The The National Science Foundation awarded a afford so. cannot do to Under has four. ranked the ment regulation person legislative veto, Dartmouth College researcher $58,000 to study faces and among consistently top who a thinks will cause undue hardSome regulation is necessary but too often those writing any person how people react to them. Presumably, the study will not regulation is or not strong enough can take his case to his include the look on a taxpayers face when he Finds out the regulations do not understand the impact of their work ship how his money is being spent. on those they regulate. In many cases, regulations go beyond senators or representative. Thanks to the Voting Rights Act, bilingual ballots the intent of the Congress. Legislative veto was one of the top priorities of the 1980 White House Conference are forced on states and municipalities, running up on Small Business. unnecessary costs. For example, last year in San President Reagan cam- Bernardino, California, more than $108,000 was spent to paigned in favor of the idea. provide ballot and election materials in languages other than And when the NFIB polled English. Only 13 bilingual ballots were used in their 1980 its half million members, election at a cost of over $950 per ballot. overthey responded Naturally, Congress does not scrimp when it comes whelmingly in support of to spending money on itself. A few years ago, the Senate the legislative veto. Now, members of Congress will decided to build a new office building at a cost of $48 decide whether or not they million. The great white elephant is not yet completed, but the estimated construction costs have escalated past will accept responsibility for the effect of the laws $ 37 million already. What is most disturbing about these stories is that few they create. legislators seem to care when another example of foolish Wilson S. Johnson is government spending is revealed. They treat the tax dollar president of the National like play money. Yet a billion dollars is an enormous Federation of Independent amount of money. After all, if every resident of any one Business, representing more than half a million congressional district sent the government $2,000, the total men and would be just over a billion dollars. Should we just shrug our shoulders when our d women. money is frittered-away(R-N- Y), fuHQh small-busine- ss small-busines- - - 1 1 small-busine- ss hard-earne- (Feulner is president of The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-base- d public policy research institute.) ? |