Why Republicans are bad for free enterprise.
Many Americans, especially some Republicans, will no doubt be wondering what ever happened to free markets. Throughout both terms of the Bush regime there has been little development in the way of free enterprise. If anything there was clear regression.
About the only sop thrown to the free market lobby were illusionary tax cuts. I say illusionary because they are unsustainable. Bush merely pushed through tax cuts today in exchange for massive tax increases sometime in the future. He played the most despicable game in this matter. He knew that he could rack up massive debts during his term of office which eventually would have to be addressed by future administrations. To keep alive the lie that he offered the American people tax relief today he saddled them with even higher taxes tomorrow.
Even higher because not only do the taxpayers have to cover the deficit created by Bush's spendthrift measures but they will be saddled with the additional interest created by that debt. For every dollar in tax cuts Bush pushed through the taxpayer will have to pay back that dollar plus some. The plus some is the debt that Bush imposed on future generations in addition to the interest on it. This is short-term thinking at its worst. To make Americans slightly better off today Bush is imposing a debt that will make they massively worse off tomorrow.
But as a politician with no concern for the long-term Bush doesn't mind. The tax cuts were popular today and he won't be in office when the consequences are made apparent. So the only free market measure of substance that Bush pushed through in his two terms are gossamer tax cuts that won't be able to survive a harsh reality that eventually will have to be faced.
The question that some ask is why it is that Republicans, who used to at least pay lip service to free markets, are now so utterly useless in pushing through market oriented reforms. And part of the reason is the current make up of the Republican Party.
The GOP has been whored out to two special interest groups neither of whom are pro-market. These two groups are the neo-conservatives who want a global empire and the Christianists who want big government promoting their theocratic/moral/family agenda.
Both the neo-cons and the Christians say they support markets. And to some degree they do. But markets are very low on their list of priorities. The neo-cons want a big military and that can't come without big budgets. The Christianists want big government pushing a moral agenda. They want multimillion dollar programs advertising the benefits of virginity. They would rather bash gay couples than cut the budget. They want to spend hundreds of millions chasing dirty magazines and policing bedrooms. And they salivate at the thought of billions in "faith based" funding to be used for the sake of Jesus.
The Republican in the Reagan/Goldwater traditionalist is out in the cold. One Republican activists I know candidly admitted that if he talked like Reagan at a Republican meeting he would get dirty looks from the party stalwarts. The simple fact is that you can't have the neo-con agenda without big government and you can't have the Christianity agenda without big government. The Bush administration wants both agendas. Free enterprise could not possibly survive this dual assault.
Nor should it be forgotten how this neo-con/Christianist coalition is impacting the cause of markets around the world. The fact is that most Western nations simply have no stomach for this agenda. There is widespread opposition to the military hegemony for the US in virtually all Western nations. And the variety of fundamentalism that has grabbed the Republican Party by the hairs of the head is uniquely and specifically American.
No other Western nation endures this sort of theocratic fanaticism that was born in the American South. Of course these fundamentalists believe they are true Christians but the reality is that they are outside two thousand years of Christian tradition. Most nations with a Christian tradition look at these revivalists as very odd birds indeed. They don't see them so much as Christians as they see them as some sort of American cultural phenomenon. But unlike other cultural phenomena from America this is not one that is likely to catch on with educated Westerners.
The unfortunate thing is that the Republican Party is perceived, falsely or not, as the party of free markets. And most people wrongly still believe they have to take the package deals offered by bad politicians. When George Bush stuffs up he does not discredit just the neo-con/Christianist alliance but he discredits free markets as well.
It is doubly unfortunate that some market oriented parties outside the US feel an obligation to stand by America. The America they are standing by no longer exits but they have yet to figure that out. So by associating themselves, in any way with the Bush regime, they discredit themselves in the eyes of their voters. I do not think it a coincidence that numerous governments in recent years have swung to the far Left. People are not just voting for these parties but voting against what they see as the "Right" alternative as represented by the Bush administration. George Bush has discredited many of America's staunchest allies around the world in the process of his crusading.
Unfortunately the number of true liberal parities in the world are too small to counter this perception. A true liberal party would strongly support free markets but it would have to to oppose the programs of both the neo-con globalists and the Christianist moralists. Liberalism is the philosophy of liberty and that means across the board. That means economic and social. it means free trade and peaceful relations with all. Liberalism always and everywhere means the banishment of state force and thus it has no allegiance with the Christianist who wants 'faith based" handouts and morality laws; it means no allegiance with the neo-con imperialist who wants to bomb other nations into democracy. Until the Republicans realise this they will remain the premier threat to free markets in the West.
All items in this journal reflect the personal opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of the Institute for Liberal Values or its Board members.
Previous (Up against the wall! And thanks for cooperating.) - Next (The myth of markets)
Nannies to Right of Us, Nannies to the Left of Us.
Welcome Home: the journeys of David Mamet and George McGovern.
Dominion Post in needless panic
Does Liberalism Have a Heart?
The moral problems of state power in regards to war.
Kiwi health: spend more, care less
Hurricanes and hot air: the sequel
Morality and Consistency: Why Left and Right both threaten freedom.
Ageing, population and the welfare state.
The bankruptcy of conservatism.
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Institute for Liberal Values, Friday September 10th 2010. |
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