When they are not sucking up to the GOP, DC-based conservatives and libertarians are working to provide “objective intellectual” support for policies pleasing to their corporate paymasters. A DC-lobbyist friend of mine once bragged to me about all the corporate money he directed to free-market think tanks for studies and op-eds concerning a topic of interest to one of his big corporate clients. Of course, it is just a coincidence that the studies showed that all reasonable people would support the position of the corporation who was paying the bills. Just like the millions the pharmaceutical industry throws around Washington has nothing to do with how certain free-market intellectuals endorse almost any statist measure if it guarantees huge profits for the drug companies.