The US government's election-meddling apparatus -- the National
Endowment for Democracy -- has been an unmitigated disaster and an
embarrassment to the US since it was founded in 1983. The NED is the
flagship for US political meddling abroad, and Trump proposes to slash
its budget by 60 percent, from $170 million to $67 million. When
Congress created the agency in 1983, it prohibited NED and its grantees
from directly aiding foreign political candidates. But that law
restrains NED as effectively as the Fourth Amendment’s restriction on
warrantless searches leashes the National Security Agency. Let's hope
Trump slashes it by a full 100 percent -- but 60 percent is a good
start!
