Re: Bandow and reimprotation

Bill the “free-market” opponents of drug reimportation believe it is a good thing that federal policy forces American consumers to pay above-market prices for prescription drugs since other governments force drug companies to charge below market prices. I am unaware of any other instance where a huge segment of the libertarian/conservative “intelligentsia” support government polices designed to insure the profitability of a particular industry. That is why many of us are suspicious of the motives of the foes of reimportation.

That said, I always liked Doug Bandow, both as a columnist and as a person, and thought he was one of the best people at CATO. I am sorry to see him caught up in the Abramoff scandal. I hope he has learned his lesson and will soon resume his role in the fight for liberty.
As Franklin Foer points out there is a high likelihood that Bandow and Peter Ferrara are not the only DC-based “intellectuals” on Abramoff’s payroll:

“Journalists and intellectuals, on the other hand, even those who admit their ideological predispositions, aren’t supposed to be so susceptible to influence-peddlers. Abramoff, however, proved otherwise. He understood how the universe of thinkers and activists associated with the Republican Party operated, how to manipulate them with ideological buzzwords, and how to influence them with access and money. Jack Abramoff didn’t just corrupt Tom DeLay. He helped corrupt the whole conservative movement.”

A potential problem emerging from the the conformation that many (most?) regime libertarians are little more than paid hacks for the GOP/Corporate establishment is that this will be used by statists to smear all libertarians are apologists for corporatism.

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8:07 pm on December 19, 2005