European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 23, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday May 24,1987 George will Congress can f take Over president s Legal role the elephantine concessional committee it has 16 members 5 per cent of the legislature that is dissect ing the Iran Centra debacle is miniature izing the Issue presenting a constitutional conflict As a crime Story. And Many of those in Congress who a Sec $ constitutional crisis 1 describe it inaccurately saying the president claims to be above the  actually the president it not constitutionally interested or articulate enough to manage even that impertinence his cont Butic to miniaturization has been to fail to make a serious argument in defense or his office. He is not an obsessive student of the classics but seems to have transformed a Dickens character into a philosophy of governance. Lei Reagan be Reagan he would rather be Micawber cheerfully thinking something will turn up to make everything right. What has turned up is proof of what no one doubted that Reagan knew of and sup ported Public and private efforts to keep the contras afloat until Congress change Able mind could be changed yet again. He should Long ago have argued that Laws like the Boland amendment Are not Laws they arc unconstitutional. The amendment for fiscal 1985 said no funds available to any Agency involved in intelligence activities maybe up Cal for supporting the contras directly or  patently thai does not cover the president s office which in clude the National Security Council. And the Law would be constitutional nonsense if written to bind the president inc Way some congressional supremacists want to. Suppose that in 1944 Congress had said no Money could be spent for an in Vasion of Normandy As opposed to the South of France or to relieve Bastogne or for operations in say Belgium. Such dictations of lactic would have been Dis missed As unambiguously unconstitutional infringements of executive discretion. For would have chuckled an ignored them and if Congress had tried to involve the supreme court the court would have declined to hear the Case. Some congressional supremacists say the supreme court must adjudicate con William f. Buckley Stith tonal disagreements. But much of the adjustment of inc separation of pow ers has been fought out Between the pres ident and Congress. In the 5icat of controversy about the Vietnam War there was never a majority of supreme court justices willing even to hear the argument thai the War was  either the president has Powers or he does not. If his actions in foreign policy can be Micro managed by con Gress then he docs not have significant Power regarding foreign policy. But the language and Structure of the Constitution say he has those Powers. History says so Loo. There Are More than 140 instances of presidents sending troops id harm s Way or sending War Materiel abroad without congressional per Mission beginning at least with presi Dent Adams sending the Navy to capture 90 French ships and to land marines on Santo Domingo As retaliation for France seizing . Merchant ships. Here is a crusade for Post Vietnam liberals impeach John Adams posthumously Congress makes major decisions to have an army to declare War. But As Congress moves Down the spectrum of decisions from the Genera to the partic ular it enters the president s constitutional space. Liberalism has moved far from oppo Silion to the Bricker amendment to sup port for the Boland amendment. In 954, liberals Ted the tight against sen. Bricker s attempt to restrict the treaty making Power of the president. But to land s amendment abridge traditional presidential discretion in ways thai makes Bricker s amendment seem mild. The logic of congressional supremacists leads to ludic ausness because Congress appropriates All funds including All exec ulivo Branch salaries and pays Whitehouse Telephone and heating Bills con Gress can forbid even any indirect use of funds that might Aid the contras. Such As Reagan speaking in the while House with the saudi King concerning saudi Aid to the contras or using the Telephone to Call the Leader of Honduras to urge cooperation with the contras. This argument annihilates the doctrine of separation of Powers. And the presidency. Now some congressional supremacists arc becoming spiritual. They say Well the while House ignored the spirit of the Boland amendment. At Issue is the spirit of a non Law Licking criminal sanctions and designed As a License for accusations and recriminations from a Congress More comfortable arguing about inc legality than tic Wisdom of policies. Accusations of violations of the spirit of the Boland amendment Are issuing from a Congress thai is violating inc letter of various taws regarding the production of budgets. Economic sense May contradict political sense a few weeks ago 1 wrote about inc budget Defi Cit intending to be helpful. I got Back 3 genial the reason 1 am writing is that the economics you have been teaching me Over these years Hai come Home to Roost but Stem your advocacy of a value added tax is a disaster letter from Millon Friedman. Everything thai Friedman says is interesting not Only to the members of the Nobel committee bul to All right minded students of economics and it is this Point especially thai his Tetter stresses that which i economically sensible May be politically disastrous in a democracy and therefore ought not to do advocated. This is an alarming social insight requiring serious attention. The Issue in question continues to be How do we move toward a balanced budget the most direct political Way to do so is to forbid deficit financing an this Wai attempted in 1982 when the Senate voted a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. The House came in with a majority bul not the necessary two thirds leaving the initiative to the states which continue 10 struggle for iwo More Stales reformists have 32 Oul of the 34 stale Legislatures necessary to convoke a constitutional convention. The Constitution at amendment having failed up tothe moment the fiscal therapists looked for other Means to do something about deficit spending. The objective is to raise Revenue without damaging the productive machine. Something on the order if 1 have got the mechanical metaphor ngh of coming up with a higher octane Gas sufficient to prod the engine into greater productivity without damaging it. I have advocated along with Many others a value added la a device widely used in Europe which taxes he value of a product As it moves from productive Echelon to Echelon from the collector of the raw materials to the manufacturer to the wholesaler to the retailer to the consumer. Comments Friedman there is no doubt that from a purely economic Point of View there is a great Deal to be said for a value added tax bul from the political Point of View it is a disaster not Only because it is efficient but More fundamentally because it is  in a single sentence Friedman a rfcs the melancholy commentary on democratic practice namely that which is technically desirable May be politically undesirable. Why people Loday do not recon inc that in the Price of the goods they arc buying they Are also paying a whole Host of taxes. Similarly with 3 value added Tan people do not recognize when they Are buying goods and serv ices that they Are paying taxes. The farts Are Over whelming to the Hosl of my knowledge every country that has adopted value added taxes has seen govern ment spending Rise As a fraction of income every one of those countries has a higher level of government spending relative to National income than we do. Enacting a value added tax is an absolutely sure fire Way to make government spending go up and Noi come Down. Is this so Only because of the ignorance of the con Sumer who accepts taxes because he does not realize he is paying for them no it is inc architect of High spending that we need to focus on. "1 know thai this is not an outcome you want but in is an outcome that is very much desired by Many people in the Congress when they come Oul and layabout the need for a Broad based consumption tax they mean a value added tax they Are doing so precisely As a Way to make sure that they can continue to increase spending As a fraction of  now this observation is of arresting interest less for economic reasons we know what to do about the political deficit without hurting the Economy than for political reasons. When Ronald Reagan was governor of California he swore and swore again that he would not tolerate a withholding lax to accompany California income tax. His reasoning aligns exactly with that of  withholding tax is Snake nil come to the Rescue of big spenders. The american receiving his paycheck looks at the Bottom line and is gulled into forgetting hat 20 percent or More is being withheld to pay for government overhead. Gov. Reagan had to capitulate on that Point under political pressure. The ongoing Challenge i either a to awaken the consumer to therole government spending is playing in the Cost of living or b to search of political Means of compensation for an ignorance thai cannot be allayed cd Universal pies steals