On January 3, Tucker Carlson delivered a diatribe ostensibly attacking the ruling class in Washington. But his real message was much more subtle, and much more sinister. It was, first and foremost, an attack on the free market.
Like many other pundits, Carlson looks at the myriad problems plaguing America and blames the pursuit of gadgets–iPhones, flat screen televisions, nice automobiles–as destructive to the nation’s families. And according to Carlson, all that matters are families.
The overriding goal for America is more prosperity, meaning cheaper consumer goods. But is that still true? Does anyone still believe that cheaper iPhones, or more Amazon deliveries of plastic garbage from China are going to make us happy? They haven’t so far. A lot of Americans are drowning in stuff. And yet drug addiction and suicide are depopulating large parts of the country. Anyone who thinks the health of a nation can be summed up in GDP is an idiot.
Certainly, there is more to happiness and one’s well-being than material goods. But without material goods, happiness, survival, let alone happiness is difficult. Just look to Venezuela for evidence.
If the pursuit of material prosperity is the problem, then what does Carlson propose as the solution? Republicans, he says, should abandon the free market.
Republican leaders will have to acknowledge that market capitalism is not a religion. Market capitalism is a tool, like a staple gun or a toaster. You’d have to be a fool to worship it. Our system was created by human beings for the benefit of human beings. We do not exist to serve markets. Just the opposite. Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.
Capitalism is a tool, he tells us, that Republicans should use to protect families. While Carlson doesn’t make specific suggestions, the only way in which politicians can mold an economic system is through laws and regulations. For more than a century, politicians have been passing laws to regulate and control the market. Rather than demanding a loosening of those controls, Carlson wants more.
While proclaiming that socialism is a disaster, Carlson calls for ” a group of responsible people in our political system [to reform] the American economy in a way that protects normal people.” Reforming the economic system to “protect normal people” is precisely what every communist in history–from Lenin to Chavez–has proposed and enacted. Government control over the economy has always been a disaster. But Carlson wants more government controls.
Carlson is correct that our economy needs reform. But the reform needed is not more controls and regulations. We need more economic freedom.
American businesses are burdened with a mountain of regulations from local, state, and federal agencies. There is virtually no industry that can operate freely. There is virtually no industry that is not forced to follow the demands and dictates of politicians and bureaucrats. Yet, as is usually the case, businesses–and the free market–get the blame when problems arise.
Government’s proper purpose is the protection of individual rights. This includes “normal people” and the super-wealthy, it includes business owners and employees. It includes blacks and whites, men and women, gays and straights. It includes all individuals.
But Carlson wants government to protect one group of individuals–“normal people.” He fails to see that nearly all of the problems that he ascribes to the free market actually result from the government interventions enacted to protect some group, whether minorities, women, the handicapped, or endangered species. For more than a century, politicians have been trading political favors for political support. Carlson is asking for more of the same.