ALTHOUGH an ambitious goal, a large number of idealistic young Americans think about becoming president of the United States every year. In so doing, they think about how they might help make the world a better place for boys, girls, cats and dogs. Most of those young Americans lose their idealism and desire to change the world around the eighth grade. One person, however, has maintained such childish idealism and a desire to change the world around him. That man is Dr. John Hagelin.
Hagelin, a physicist, is running for the office of president under the anti-Buchanan half of what most folks recognize as the Reform Party. Hagelin has also accomplished an almost unheard of feat by securing the additional nomination of the Natural Law Party, the party under whose banner he ran for president in 1996.
While watching Hagelin on television (C-SPAN almost entirely), one may be struck by the man's effective, gentle delivery and by his obvious commitment to the platform he espouses. A nearly bald man, his appearance does not conform to most perfectly-coiffed standards of political appearance. His speeches rely less on standard campaign rhetoric but instead focus on intensely issue-based descriptions about the world's problems and the manner in which his presidency might help to reduce those problems. In effect, Dr. Hagelin's campaign embodies how an everyman may attempt to win the support of the American electorate.
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Unfortunately, while watching his speeches and reading his statements, one would come to the inescapable conclusion that Dr. John Hagelin, presidential candidate, is, in fact, a loon. More specifically, he is a loon attempting to qualify for over $12 million in federal matching campaign funds.
Ignoring the Reform Party's own idiosyncrasies - the primary one being Ross Perot himself - the Natural Law Party half of the Hagelin political juggernaut represents a number of views counter to that of most sane Americans.
Reading the Natural Law Party platform, available at www.natural-law.org, one notices that the party prescribes one general solution for every major problem in America. Whether the problem be crime, drugs, poor health care, the environment or education, the Natural Law Party has an answer: Live your life according to Natural Law.
In the event you were wondering, living according to natural law involves self-reflection and Transcendental Meditation, a relaxation technique developed by an international spiritual guru named - this is completely true - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
In fact, every issue of the Natural Law Party seems to mention Mr. Yogi's relaxation techniques. Yogi, incidentally, has a Web site dedicated to marketing his techniques to those voters not willing to wait for the Hagelin presidency.
Of course, Dr. Hagelin and the rest of the smarter-than-the-average Natural Law followers have a right to convince a large number of American voters to put their beliefs into a position of federal authority. They also have a right to raise funds from Natural Law supporters and other easily misled fans of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. They should not have a right to use taxpayer funds, however, to promote their campaign.
The Hagelin campaign functions as a perfect example of the defects of the current political campaign public finance scheme. Under this program, major party presidential candidates may receive millions of dollars from the U.S. government, in exchange for agreeing to a limit on campaign expenditures. On the surface, public financing allows campaigns with modest resources to receive the monetary help they need to reach the American electorate. The problem arises in deciding which candidates should receive such taxpayer-financed booty. In the current system, a party's nominee is eligible for funds if the nominee in the prior campaign (1996) received a reasonable percentage of the vote. Although a non-factor, Perot did receive enough support in 1996 to qualify his Reform Party for federal funds. In a matter of weeks, the Federal Election Commission will provide a $12 million check to either the aforementioned Hagelin or Patrick J. Buchanan, the modern model of mainstream politics. Simply stated, the government should not have this level of power.
Provided they give full disclosure of names and contributions of their supporters, political campaigns should not depend on the largess of a taxpayer-financed system to allow them to run for office. Their viewpoints and ideas should make them appealing enough to attract financial backing from a variety of sources. The current system provides an opportunity for a crazy person - Hagelin or Buchanan - to receive millions of dollars that American workers have earned and supplied to the government. True campaign finance reform will stop the federal government from playing financial kingmaker and will ensure the right of Americans to make their financial contributions count.
(Seth Wood's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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