Who is to blame for dairy farmer's failure?

My lefty friend Tannish seems to think it's a failure of the Capitalist system that big dairy companies forced Hein Hettinga out of his burgeoning business. Or, perhaps it's the fault of the "Dittohead Righties" for voting in the "Best Congress Money Can Buy ™."

Yeah, it's those right-wing opportunists who just got run out of Dodge who helped kill this farmer's dream:

A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. Soon the effects were rippling through the state, helping to hold down retail prices at supermarkets and warehouse stores.

That was when a coalition of giant milk companies and dairies, along with their congressional allies, decided to crush Hettinga's initiative. For three years, the milk lobby spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions and made deals with lawmakers, including incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada).

Huh.

Reid was no newcomer to dairy issues. Nevada's population was growing faster than its dairies could supply milk, so prices tended to be high. Milk plants that had to import milk from far away thought they could get it cheaper if they did not have to pay regulated prices. In 1999, Reid helped them out. He slipped an amendment into a spending bill exempting milk plants in the Las Vegas area from federal pricing rules.

Who came to Hettinga's defense?

During a swing through Capitol Hill with McGrath, Hettinga pitched his cause to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-California).

Lewis' district was home to some large dairies, including a Hettinga dairy in San Jacinto. The two men had never before met or talked, according to Lewis' spokesman. But Lewis was sympathetic. "This is not right, taking a rifle shot at one individual," Hettinga recalls Lewis saying.

A few months later, Lewis used his power to kill the Kyl-Reid measure. "Congressman Lewis did it strictly on behalf of a constituent and because he thought Hein's deal was good for consumers," said Lewis' deputy chief of staff, Jim Specht.

So, "defender-of-the-small-guy" Lefty Harry Reid helps the big businesses ruin a small guy, and an "in-the-pocket-of-big-business" Righty -- whose district does big business with big dairies -- does what he can to help the little guy -- and the ignorant, Wal-Mart (actually, Costco, but allow me some poetic license) shopping consumer, to boot!

Who'd a thunk?

So, what tools did the free-market guys like that notorious "Dittohead Right[y]" Harry Reid and his pals use? Collectivist systems. Big government. The sorts of things "Dittohead Righties" usually find abhorrent. So, whose tools are these, usually? Ummmm..... lemme see, now... uhhh.... I know I wrote it down here, somewhere....