Licensing, Guilds, Rent-Seeking, and the Shakedown State

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 4:50 PM -0700 11/16/97, Anonymous wrote:
>The DEA announced friday that doctors in Oregon that participate in doctor
>assisted suicides will have their licence to prescribe drugs revoked.
>Since when did the DEA gestapo obtain the power to regulate physician's
>rights to prescribe the drugs their patients need? But more important is
>the realization that the thugs in

This has happened before, of course. A case in Virginia got a lot of
attention not too long ago, e.g., on "60 Minutes." And here in California,
where voters also passed a "medical use of marijuana" proposition,
Washington is threatening revocation of doctor's licenses.

There are obviously some major "states rights" issues here, and there may
be some Supreme Court cases coming down the pike.

A larger issue, one at a meta-level, is where "licensing" of _any_
profession or career comes from. How can some professions require licenses?
Where does this authority come from? And what are the roles of ostensibly
private organizations like the American Medical Association and the
American Bar Association  in the administration and granting of such
licenses?

(Long-time readers should of course know my views, that these entities are
essentially modern versions of "guilds." Hardly a position original with
me. But a disturbing trend, as more and more fields arrange for licensing.
Economists call this "rent-seeking." The American Aptical Foddering
Association sets themselves up as the arbiters of who can be an Aptical
Fodderer, and rigs a deal with the police state to arrest and jail anyone
who "practices aptical foddering without a license." A shakedown state.)

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."