Posted by David Bernstein:
Because the Democrats "Believe in" Government:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_09_20-2009_09_26.shtml#1253886830
During the Bush years, we constantly heard the refrain, pushed
especially by Paul Krugman, that the government was doing incompetent
and corrupt things because conservative Republicans "don't believe in"
government. Put the government in the hands of true-believing liberal
Democrats, and incompetence and corruption will virtually disappear.
This always struck me as foolish, in part because the problems with
government competence and integrity are structural, not individual,
and in part because it required one to believe [1]Krugman's fantasy
that the Republican elite during the Bush years was dominated by
wild-eyed libertarians intent on drowning the government in a bathtub,
or something like that.
Anyway, here's the latest example of competence an incorruptibility
from our liberal Democrat elites:
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that four New Jersey
congressmen and its own former commissioner unduly influenced the
process that led to its decision last year to approve a patch for
injured knees, an approval it is now revisiting.
The agency's scientific reviewers repeatedly and unanimously over
many years decided that the device, known as Menaflex and
manufactured by ReGen Biologics Inc., was unsafe because the device
often failed, forcing patients to get another operation.
But after receiving what an F.D.A. report described as "extreme,"
"unusual" and persistent pressure from four Democrats from New
Jersey � Senators Robert Menendez and Frank R. Lautenberg and
Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. and Steven R. Rothman � agency
managers overruled the scientists and approved the device for sale
in December.
All four legislators made their inquiries within a few months of
receiving significant campaign contributions from ReGen, which is
based in New Jersey, but all said they had acted appropriately and
were not influenced by the money.
References
1. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_31-2008_09_06.shtml#1220310341
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