
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a town hall for the American Federation of Teachers in Detroit, Monday, May 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has made some dictatorial statements in the past.
But on Friday, she went full-bore.
She told her audience in Iowa that she had a plan to make drug companies reduce prices.
First she claimed she was going to get companies to set drug prices based on the fair market value.
If the companies resisted the government-mandated order, if their drugs came through any federal funding for research and development, she said, “I will snatch their patent. So that we will take over. And yes we can do that. Yes, Yes, we can do that. Yes we can do that. It’s a question of if you have the will to do it. I have the will to do it.”
Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris on if drug companies do not comply with her mandatory set drug prices: “I will snatch their patent so that we will take over”
Audience asks: “can we do that?”
“Yes, we can do that! Yes, we can do that! … I have the will to do it” pic.twitter.com/gpU8nnGt6h
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 23, 2019
Yikes.
So if you don’t comply with what they want, the government is just going to grab your private property, under a Kamala presidency.
Sounds like a fascism, sprinkled in with a little “seize the means of production” communism.
Insane.
People like this don’t belong anywhere near positions of power. https://t.co/zqRc6mazUp
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) November 23, 2019
but we must vote democrat to protect our norms.
please, won’t someone think of our norms?
— 𝔱𝔰𝔞𝔯 𝔟𝔢𝔠𝔨𝔢𝔱 𝔞𝔡𝔞𝔪𝔰 (@BecketAdams) November 23, 2019
But that’s not the choice before us bro pic.twitter.com/gBSJ8E7GqV
— Fisher of Meh 🐟 (@fisherofmeh) November 23, 2019
Nothing restores our sacred norms quite like the government seizing private property. https://t.co/HSgZKv7LIn
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) November 23, 2019
A) No, actually, you cannot do that.
B) Also, the government does not (and should not!) manufacture drugs.
C) This is terrifying. https://t.co/7J9cmjvlAM
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) November 23, 2019
Rep. Dan Crenshaw points out another problem with this approach: it kills incentive, businesses, drugs and cures.
Nope.
Patents are unequivocally protected in the US Constitution.
Even if they weren’t, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that stealing people’s property after they make it means THEY WON’T MAKE IT ANYMORE. Fewer drugs, fewer cures. Bad policy. https://t.co/tCWbd3b5iI
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) November 23, 2019
But Harris isn’t the only Democrat pushing this. Mayor Pete Buttigieg has suggested that he would do something similar if companies did not comply with the government’s demands.
Harris claims on her website that she would be entitled to do this under the Bayh-Dole Act and “march in” rights. But that has never been allowed to snatch people’s patents. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has received six march-in petitions and has denied each one.
Fortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to see a Kamala presidency.
But it’s only one example of how radically left the Democrats have gone. And yes, that’s pretty terrifying and not just on this issue.
HT: Twitchy
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