Doug Bandow in Law of the Sea Treaty Interview with Texas Newpaper: "Bad Treaties Never Die"

On Thursday, Doug Bandow of the Competitive Enterprise Institute weighed in heavily against the Law of the Sea Treaty in a published interview with the Tyler Morning Herald of Tyler, Texas.

Bandow, one of America's foremost experts on LOST and member of the Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty, runs down the littany of reasons why the treaty ought to resoundingly rejected by the Bush Administration and Congress.

For starters, he notes that LOST will circumvent the tax powers of Congress by allowing the treaty-created International Seabed Authority to levy taxes on U.S. business that work on the Outer Continental Shelf. For those who believe in "No Taxation Without Representation," the is problematic, to say the least.

Bandow goes on to note that our accession to the Law of the Sea Treaty would subject us to a bevy of potentially crippling lawsuits brought by overzealous international lawyers. We could expect a spate of new regulations and restriction that would harm U.S. interests, and could even hamstring our military.

All in all, Bandow argues, the dangers of the LOST far outweigh its benefits: "Enshrining collectivism as international law through creation of a mini-me United Nations would be as foolish as it would be costly."