W.’s farewell address featured his vexing habit of exalting liberty and freedom and “the free enterprise system” with jingoistic rhetorical flourishes anchored in la-la land. Back on Earth, authentic libertylovers remain irate over W.’s willingness to depict himself as an advocate of capitalist ideals that he consistently undermined in practice. It is truth irrefutable that W. ushered in big government conservatism, driving the greatest increases in entitlement spending and corporate welfare the country has ever experienced. W. dabbled in protectionism when it was politically expedient for him to do so, signed huge agricultural subsidies, signed off on over a trillion dollars in corporate welfare programs in the last months of his presidency, and yet he has portrayed himself repeatedly and vociferously and fraudulently, as a stalwart champion of free markets.
To the extent that W. fostered and reinforced the impression that his failed interventionist policies reflect capitalism-in-action, he has discombobulated the popular understanding of capitalism. This tragic accomplishment will reverberate not merely in his presidential legacy. It will be felt in public policy debates to come, when honest advocates of private property rights, voluntary trading based on mutual consent, and the profit-and-loss system of competition are challenged to defend their proposals in light of the failures of the self-professed capitalist, George W. Bush. Of course, specious claims like that will not stand up to serious scrutiny, but the popular perception that free markets failed under W. has set the stage for professional politicians who will make hay promising a tsunami of new-fangled, old-school, big-government interventionism.
{ 0 comments }
