So I just noticed bmike’s recent diary entitled “WTF?” Turned out he was exercised about something stupid John McClaughry said in an opinion piece. Nothing new there.

(For those of you just joining us, McClaughry is the founder of the Ethan Allen Institute, and a devout conservative/libertarian/free marketer. Gotta be lonely to be one o’ them in Vermont, hanging out with the likes of Paul Beaudry and paying good money to put Rob Roper on the radio.)

Out of sheer, I don’t know, idle curiosity, I did a Google Image search for ol’ John. And one of the top hits featured a picture of him wearing an obviously false mustache and a set of fatigues. (See photo here.)

Hmm. I clicked on the link. It was to a 2002 conference held in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, of the International Society for Individual Liberty. The subject was “Advancing Liberty in Latin America.”

‘Cause, you know, nothing wrong in Latin America that a dose of Ayn Rand couldn’t cure.

And there, in the midst of this “humanitarian” effort to lift Latinos out of their socialist morass and into a new dawn of prosperity, was ol’ John giving what must have been a side-splitting impersonation of “El Jefe General Saturino Borhorquez,” a stereotypical tinpot dictator who had found the gospel of Randianism and renounced his statist ways. From the conference report:

John McClaughry… delivered a hilarious skit as a reformed banana-republic dictator. Strutting to the fore in a military uniform, hat and boots, with a wide red sash and jangling medals, he must have been a sight for the locals. He renamed his country “Nueva Prosperidad” and rhymed off the libertarian reforms that would bring prosperity.

It then adds, “All good satirical fun.” Unfortunately, the accompanying offer to “buy the tape” is no longer online. I would have been sorely tempted. Because you know what usually happens when devout conservatives try to indulge in “satirical fun” involving ludicrous costumes and ethnic stereotypes.

So John, are you available for weddings and bar mitzvahs?

(Addendum: Bringing forward a very perceptive comment by BP. Wish I’d thought of it myself:

Exactly right, BP. Libertarians have gotta know, somewhere deep inside, that they’ll never win through democratic means. El Jefe is their deepest fantasy (and ultimate self-contradiction) personified: the overthrow of statism through the absolute power of the state.)