Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was wrong to exhort the 50 state-attorneys general to zealously prosecute "immoral price gougers" of limited flu vaccines.

Mr. Thompson's exhortations violate a fundamental moral principle as well as an economic one. Morally, an individual has the right to ask any price he wants for a good or service he owns--and a buyer has an equal right to refuse that price. In a truly free society, the government is not granted the power to dictate to sellers and buyers the terms of a sale. Such power is found in dictatorships, not in nations that respect individual rights.