Volume CXXXI, Number 20 April 5, 2002 f

The anti-capitalist Republicans
HUGH HILL

When people hear the word Republican, one of their set reactions is to connect the word with "capitalism." The same is true with Democrats and "socialism." Conservatives are constantly and loudly proclaiming that they are more pro-business and pro-capitalism than liberals, only increasing their volume with history's recent discrediting of socialism as a viable form of government.

In a historical sense, Republicans are correct. Competition is much more efficient for an economy than state-management. However, in recent years, the Republican Party has abandoned the mantle of pro-market capitalism and is now as anti-free markets as the Democrats ever were.

What, you say? Republicans anti-capitalist? Yes, it is a sad thing. Just when free-market capitalism becomes the almost-universally accepted economic archetype, those who have championed it for so many years now abandon it. How are they doing it? By destroying the field of competition upon which capitalism produces such amazing results.

The maximum efficiency from a capitalist system comes when each actor has a relatively level starting point, thus allowing the truly brilliant to rise and the inefficient to fall. As members of the free market, we compete for maximum efficiency.

The Republicans have abandoned the principle of the free market. They now serve the interest of those who are already wealthy, to the detriment of competition. As far back as a century ago, Teddy Roosevelt and other progressively-minded individuals realized that when one accrues a great amount of wealth and uses it to stifle any competition, they are ultimately undermining the principles of a capitalist economic system. The result of this realization was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, a cornerstone of the government's efforts to ensure that the capitalist system had a somewhat-reasonably level playing field. Only when the playing field is level can we all benefit from the market's efficiency and Smith's great "invisible hand."

For the Republican Party, the principles of the market and equal competition have gone totally to the wayside. Big business and wealthy interests have more influence in this White House than any prior. Not since 1896 when the iron monopoly bought the election for William McKinley (I'll let you draw your own modern-day parallels here), has there been a President so beholden to corporate interests. As the Enron scandal revealed, the White House did not consult with anyone except the established energy providing firms when authoring its energy policy. Consumers, those with alternative ideas, anyone who did not have an enormous amount of accrued wealth, were totally ignored. In the Bush White House, wealth is regulating itself, thereby ensuring that any potential competition that would threaten its current position will be squelched by the government.

Or let's take the "tax cut." What does the tax cut mean for the average American? At most a few hundred dollars less in taxes per annum. For the wealthiest one to two percent of the population, it could mean tens, even hundreds, of thousands of dollars more in income every year. This is not a new phenomenon. Look at the bailouts of Chrysler and the Savings and Loan industry in the 1980's. Who were the real beneficiaries there? It was not the autoworkers in Detroit or the elderly couples who lost it all when the local savings and loan collapsed under the weight of bad debt. It was Lee Iacocca's fellow board members and Charles Keating and other swindlers who convinced Congress to deregulate their business in the first place.

Why have Republicans lost their advocacy for the free markets? Power. They spent so long in the wilderness that once they returned to the ranks of leadership they became drunk on power. So convinced are they of their own correctness that many Republicans think they are doing the right thing when they take millions from the wealthy and corporations to influence legislation. Their fiscal austerity has been abandoned for profligate squandering and money reigns naked and unashamed.

Every year under Republicans the gap between rich and poor grows. Corporate power, in both our government and daily lives, grows. Now is the time when government should strive to the utmost to preserve the competition upon which our system is based. Instead, the Republicans are tilting that field in favor of big business. If I may close by quoting Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, upon learning that Al Gore had won the popular vote, "Oh that's just horrible."