Demosclerosis:: The Silent Killer of American Government

Declaring ``We have met the special interests, and they are us,'' National Journal contributing editor Rauch ( Kindly Inquisitors ) here offers a tart, stimulating essay on government failure to solve domestic problems. Blending analysis and reportage, he argues that the pursuit and entrenchment of government benefits helps special interests and a ``parasite economy'' of lobbyists but harms the nation as a whole. The least organized groups--the young and unborn--are most neglected and threatened by the federal deficit. While Rauch supports such ``process reforms'' as public campaign financing, he recommends the privatization of services and the elimination of subsidies--to the sugar industry, for example--and of programs that favor an identifiable group, profession or region. He suggests that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, the Clinton administration's economic plan did not try to restructure government. While Rauch admonishes both liberals and conservatives, critics on the left might fault him for not emphasizing that taxation in the U.S. is much lower than in most industrialized countries. Author tour. (Apr.)