Albert Einstein said, “What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right.”
Such is the case for free market capitalism in the United States, which has found itself politically without a home faster than one of the three little pigs facing a wolf’s breath.
Already this week, former President Donald Trump tapped Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate while President Joe Biden announced plans to place caps on rent. Whatever your political persuasions are, it has quickly become apparent that capitalism will not be on the ballot in November.
For Biden and the rest of the Democratic Party, this is nothing new. While the president and politicians such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) give limp-wristed affirmations of their support for capitalism, they do so knowing that the average person is too economically illiterate to spot the difference between the policies they push and the values they proclaim. In practice, the Left has been working to move the country away from capitalism for many years.
But with the ascension of characters such as Vance, along with Trump himself, capitalism has experienced a startling drop in popularity on the Right, at least when it comes to the politicians who are calling the shots and the policies they are pushing. (As for GOP voters, their support for capitalism has actually increased since 2016.) It seems Republican lawmakers may be making the same bet as their Democratic colleagues when it comes to duping their supporters.
Vance has risen to political prominence quickly since first entering the national consciousness on the heels of his massively successful memoir Hillbilly Elegy in 2016. He parlayed the attention he received into a Senate seat and quickly cozied up to the MAGA wing of the GOP (though he flip-flopped from an initial outspoken dislike of Trump).
During his very short time in office, Vance has been virtually indistinguishable from progressives such as Warren on his economic views. He has championed unions more than anyone in recent memory, save perhaps Biden himself.
He has cheered on socialist Federal Trade Commission leader Lina Khan, who has waged a war against private industry (unsuccessfully, thankfully) over the past four years. He has been an open fan of antitrust, one of the government’s top tools in stripping business owners and consumers of their choices under a capitalist system.
He has put forth policies that would strip online business owners of their free speech rights (with nice little loopholes for the business owners he happens to like). He’s also been in favor of policies such as letting the government mandate prices in healthcare (a policy destined to lead to less innovation and supply), and he has enthusiastically embraced tariffs (which end up as taxes Americans pay) and other protectionist trade policies.
The one positive trait Vance seemingly brings to the table is an anti-war stance. But this is the same guy who wrote, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a**hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” in 2016.
Can people change their minds? Sure. But typically those who have these kinds of massive "conversions" do so based on political winds and what will advance their own power versus a true change in convictions. Being anti-war is politically popular on the Right at the moment, but it may not be in another 10 years. There’s no reason to think Vance won’t follow the populist tides wherever they may flow.
This is why populism is an empty suit of a political ideology. It’s based on nothing other than what’s popular in the moment, and what’s popular is often dumb and ruinous. There is no shakier foundation than a political system built on such whims.
In contrast, the principles of free market capitalism and individual liberty are time-tested and true. They aren’t always easy or expedient, but they work when we keep the government out of the way and give them time.
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Einstein's quote was a keen observation more Americans ought to keep in mind. Our country is often given over to the tyranny of the majority. Internet trolls believe that “ratio-ing” an opponent means they’ve won an argument; the winners of the popular vote believe the other side will never win again. But being in the majority is actually a cautionary tale. It’s something that ought to make you take a step back and check your premises.
Capitalism may not be popular among Republican or Democratic leaders right now, but it is unquestioningly the system that has created the greatest prosperity of all time while alleviating suffering faster than anything else. Without it, we may find ourselves homeless, too, as the cost of living continues to skyrocket.
Hannah Cox ( @HannahDCox ) is the president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and a fellow for the White Coat Waste Project.
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