Some suggest the conservatism of Ronald Reagan is over. Somewhere in the past 40 years, they argue, limited government and free-market capitalism were traded for welfare and industrial policy — just with a red coat of paint. Various organizations and online activists insist the American right is drifting toward the ideas of progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren or the state-directed model embraced by Viktor Orbán’s failed governing coalition in Hungary.
But last week’s meeting of over 200 conservative and libertarian policy leaders in Washington’s Navy Yard for the second annual Freedom Conservative conference proved these assumptions to be far from true. A vibrant, diverse and youthful coalition of right-leaning voices is not ready to give up on market solutions and American liberty.
Early in the day, Akash Chougule, President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP), a primary sponsor of the event, discussed the ways in which the government tries to answer problems best left to the private sector with Chairman & CEO of Stand Together Brian Hooks.
Later on, a panel on “What Has Conservatism Ever Conserved?” rebuked recent suggestions that the conservative movement has fundamentally failed because of shifts in culture on marriage, gender equality and family life. And the discussion “Rags to Riches Over Redistribution: Uplifting the Forgotten American” considered how government isn’t the answer to reducing poverty, despite long-standing assumptions otherwise.
To conclude the conference, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky delivered a keynote address emphasizing private property rights and the need for free exchange between businesses and consumers. Sen. Paul criticized the recent push to ban investor firms from purchasing homes under current drafts of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act endorsed by the White House.
"I always thought we believed in something, and I thought many of those beliefs were shared by other people, including our nominees and our presidents, which is great," Paul shared. "We can have disagreements, but we can't have this monolithic cult of absolute and utter loyalty to one person or else. I thought the loyalty should be to ideas, to the Constitution. I still believe that."
These conversations and speeches contrasted heavily with a slew of efforts to move the right towards pro-regulation policy and an anti-business sentiment. While many Republican elected officials appear to be losing their way, the self-described Freedom Conservatives remain steadfast in their commitment to less government-imposed rules and less government-dictated outcomes.
Polling consistently shows Republicans to still hold the traditional capitalist, limited government economic views as before. Data by the Chamber of Commerce showed 80% of Republicans preferring candidates that keep the government out of business activity and focus on “getting the best deals for taxpayers”. Similarly, the Americans for Free Markets’s national survey showed 89% of voters wanting economic regulation, when necessary, to be applied evenly rather than reward or punish businesses based on politics.
A narrow fringe of outspoken individuals seek to politicize business, dictate markets and determine the future of free enterprise from bureaucratic offices on the Hill. The majority of Americans do not agree — and Freedom Conservatism is offering them a movement to voice that perspective.
