How PAGUTS Destroy Democracy

Destroying Democracy -- How Government Funds Partisan Politics
by James T. Bennett and Thomas J. Dilorenzo,
Washington, Cato Institute

This book explains and documents how political advocacy groups in America obtain millions of tax dollars every year "under the guise of either helping the less fortunate -- the poor, the hungry, the unemployed -- or of advancing the 'public interest' by protecting the consumer, the environment, or minorities".  Although the book deals with the process in America it is a testimony to the transnational nature of the phenomenon that it applies with minimal modification to Australia.  The parallels with Australian experience are striking -- which is not surprising given the link which some Australian PAGUTS (Political Advocacy Groups Utilising Taxes) have with American counterparts.

Destroying Democracy claims that "in effect political advocacy groups use tax funds to further their own interests rather than the interests of the constituencies they purportedly represent".  Many politicians and bureaucrats also benefit from the process and work with political advocacy group leaders to disguise the actual way funds are being used.

Destroying Democracy identifies common characteristics among PAGUTS:  "They are usually anti-free market and anti-capitalist, often oppose private property, are sometimes even Marxist in orientation, and favour a governmentally imposed redistribution of wealth both domestically and internationally".

Destroying Democracy penetrates the myths which political advocacy group leaders have assiduously constructed, assisted by symbiotic politicians, civil servants, and others salaried from the public purse or otherwise drinking from the public trough.  It has researched meticulously the main PAGUTS and associated movements in which they operate:  environmentalism, consumerism, feminism, industrial democracy, legal aid and other "single-issue" movements.

The book attacks the claim that PAGUTS are independent of each other or the government, have no vested interests, and are concerned only to advance the public interest through pragmatic community action on a range of single-issues.  It shows that the PAGUTS comprise a "well-oiled network or coalition" in which the constituent groups are adequately co-ordinated through overlapping official and active memberships, affiliations, federations, joint campaigning, and reference to seminal think-tanks such as the Washington-based but internationallly operating Institute for Policy Studies, the Campaign for Economic Democracy and the Ralph Nader network.

It says "the network is composed of environmentalist interest groups, together with labor unions, consumer groups, feminists, welfare rights organisations, civil rights lobbyists and many others" whose principal thrust is not to serve the needy but to promote an expansion of the size, scope, and power of government, and a corresponding contraction of the private sector.

Destroying Democracy deals at length with the internationally operating Institute of Policy Studies.  The IPS is linked with the World Council of Churches, the International Organisation of Consumer Unions, Social Audit and other similar international bodies.  This network recently created the so-called New Labour Internationalism, an international, new socialist coalition.  It names six contact organisations in Australia:  the Transnational Corporations Research Project, the Transnational Co-operative, the Australian Consumers Association, Community Aid Abroad, Australia-Asia Workers Links, and Asia Bureau Australia.