So Much for Economic Liberty
From a recent edition of Hardball:

Chris Matthews: "Do you think a person has a right to work somewhere if they don’t want to join a union?"
Howard Dean: "I do. No, wait a minute. I don’t."

DEAN: I hate right-to-work laws. And let me tell you why it’s OK to be forced to join a union. The union is out there negotiating for your wage increases. Why should you get a free ride? Why should you should be able to go to work for that company, get the same benefits as everybody else who paid their union dues and you paid nothing? That’s why I’m against right-to-work laws.

MATTHEWS: OK.

DEAN: But I do believe it’s important for states to be able to make their own laws.

MATTHEWS: You understand why a libertarian would disagree with you, right? A libertarian would think they had a right, he or she, to work where they can do the job.

DEAN: Yes, but why should they-but why should they get the benefits of everybody else who is paying dues and get a free ride?

MATTHEWS: Because it's a free country.

Matthews is right, it IS a free country, though Dean seems to think that, when it comes to your economic liberty, that's a bad thing. Right to work laws are a cornerstone of individual economic liberty. They protect individuals from forced unionization and forced conscription of a portion of their wages for union dues. Howard Dean stands ready to strip Americans of that protection and force Americans to submit to collectivization instead. [Hat tip: Dean Esmay]