An article in today’s email edition of the New York Times discusses how Republican politicians are turning away from the free market. It mentions four U.S. senators in particular. It indicates that this is because the Republican constituency is shifting to the working class because of social issues.
The article accepts the idea that problems with the present workings of the system are problems with the free market.
Found this online:
Republicans Against Inequality
Quote
Tomorrow afternoon, these four Republican senators — Cotton, Rubio, Vance and Young — will speak at an event on Capitol Hill that’s meant to highlight the emergence of a populist conservative movement in economics. The event is organized around a policy manifesto, called “Rebuilding American Capitalism: A Handbook for Conservative Policymakers.”
“We really like capitalism, but we recognize it’s not working right now,” said Oren Cass, a former aide to Mitt Romney and the executive director of American Compass, a think tank that published the manifesto.
Cass is right about that: Income growth for most families has been sluggish for decades, trailing well behind economic growth. Life expectancy stagnated even before Covid. And polls show that Americans of all ideological stripes are frustrated with the country’s direction.
“Capitalism is a complex system dependent on rules and institutions,” Cass told me. “And conservatism calls for building and maintaining institutions that work well.”
Politicians over-rate the significance the general electorate attaches to this issue. When exit polls show there is a weight to economic issues, I doubt this is what any voter not a sot Democrat has in mind.