Both leftists and conservatives embrace the crony ideology. That they apply that ideology differently is merely a matter of detail. So, what is the crony ideology?
The essence of the crony ideology is the belief that government force should be used to compel or prohibit certain actions. Every act of cronyism ultimately rests on this belief, and this is true whether the cronyism is practiced by leftists or by conservatives.
Underlying this belief in the use of government force is a more fundamental idea—collectivism. Collectivism holds that the individual is and should be subordinate to the group, such as the tribe, the community, or the nation. According to collectivism, the individual must subordinate his own welfare and interests to those of the group. The group, rather than the individual, is the standard of value.
Altruism is the morality used to justify subservience of the individual to the group. The essence of morality, according to altruism, is self-sacrificial service to others. Collectivism defines who the “others” are—it defines which group will be sacrificed and group will benefit.
Leftists and conservatives do not disagree over altruism. Both embrace it. They disagree over which particular group or groups should serve as the standard of value. But they heartily agree that the individual has a moral obligation to sacrifice his interests for the group’s alleged interests. And both frequently use the biggest group of all—the public—to justify their schemes.
It should not be a surprise then, that leftists and conservatives use similar language when they defend their policies. Each defends its version of cronyism by proclaiming that it serves the “public interest” of the “national good.”