The Conservative Movement Betrayal of Individual Freedom
The conservative movement lost something enroute to dominating politics in America. Their reason for being. Conservatives betrayed individual freedom in pursuit of the corporate money necessary to realize their ambitions. The effort to reign in government unleashed corporate power that threatens individual freedom no less than hated socialism. The parade of thinktanks and pundits fronting the conservative movement produce propaganda that benefits a corporate elite not the individual freedom of citizens.
Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek emphasized individual freedom as the foundation of prosperity. Milton Friedman found the theory obtain the lucrative attentions of corporatations. Sixty years after Hayek's inspirational book "The Road to Serfdom" the prospects for prosperity looks increasingly remote most Americans and free markets remain ellusive. Public officials answer to corporations rather than the public interest, and corporate defined deregulation meant inefficient monopolies, oligopies, and cartels replaced inefficient of government intervention.
After studing the relationship between liberty and morality, Lord Acton remarked in an 1887 letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton - "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Here in lies our predicament. The threat of overly powerful public officials the conservatives sought to extinguish in socialism unleashed oppression from overly powerful private sector officials.
Inefficiency remains because obtaining influence with government officials and foreclosing on market forces provided a more favorable return on investment than competing for customers. The influence wins favorable laws or blocks the enforcement of laws. Cheaters always win if they can escape law enforcement. Unequal protection under the law represented the primary risk Hayek identified in trusting government officials with power, because commerce depends on having predictable rules of engagement.
Freedom comes from having options. One exercises freedom by choosing among these options. The choices available to American's and the choice of people suffering corporate hegemony globally continues to shrink. Let's stop the nonsense before it goes any further. Everyone will benefit if the conservative movement could find its roots again and unwind the road to serfdom.
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