Vice President JD Vance appeared on Michael Knowles’s Daily Wire podcast to discuss his new book, Communion. The two also discussed the Veep’s views on economic policy. Vance said that President Trump has reshaped the Republican Party and the conservative movement by replacing the old free-market consensus with one favoring government interventions in the economy, such as tariffs, to benefit working families.
The Vice President failed to mention the role tariffs play in the affordability crisis that continues to bedevil the very middle- and working-class Americans the Administration’s policies are meant to help. Vance gleefully pointed out that there was little or no pushback from Republicans when President Trump suggested that the government take partial ownership interest in artificial intelligence firms; a proposal first made by democratic socialist Bernie Sanders and one that is rooted in The Communist Manifesto.
Vance credits the President with replacing support for free markets with an “American-developmental approach” that is “more Alexander Hamilton than Milton Friedman.” Hamilton was the nation’s first Treasury Secretary, as well as the creator and leading proponent of what came to be known as the American system. Hamilton’s goal was to use government power to make America self-reliant. Toward that end, he favored a National Bank to manage federal debt, as well as issue a stable currency. He also favored tariffs and government spending on internal improvements such as building roads and canals as well as providing credit for new industries.
Milton Friedman was a Nobel Laureate economist and one of, if not the most influential advocates for free markets and limited government in the 20th century. A professor at the University of Chicago, Friedman wrote for both professional economists and the general public. He also served as an advisor to politicians, including Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Many progressives and members of the anti-liberal right claim Friedman was the puppet master behind the Reagan Revolution and, more than two decades since his passing, remains the intellectual force behind the Republican Party’s dogmatic attachment to limited government and free markets.
One problem with this claim is that Milton Friedman opposed deficit spending and thus would be horrified to see conservative politicians vote for spending increases even as the national debt reaches almost $40 trillion. Friedman also opposed federal bailouts of big corporations. Interestingly, Friedman was not a fan of the supply-side economics view that advocates cutting taxes without offsetting spending cuts. This put him at odds with many of the conservative economic policies of the past 50 years.
Vance argues that Republicans must abandon free markets in favor of increased government intervention in the economy, because economic policy is, as he told Knowles, “fundamentally about the dignity of the human person. The economy is a tool to service the dignity. If a set of economic policies make it possible to raise a family, to earn a living wage, to give back to their community, to maybe go to church on Sunday, or to actually spend some leisure time building the kind of life that matters, that is the sort of thing we want to be supportive of."
What Vance and other critics of free markets ignore is that the prosperity produced by a free market is what makes it possible for the average person to afford to enjoy leisure time with their families and not just go to church on Sunday—but also to financially support churches and charitable and civic organizations. The economic problems currently affecting the American people are the result of government interference in the marketplace. Government policies have sucked productive resources out of the economy, devalued the dollar’s purchasing power, and incentivized private businesses to divert resources away from providing affordable goods and services to consumers, and into lobbying for government subsidies and other government-granted privileges.
Ironically, by rejecting free markets in favor of a “mixed” economy, JD Vance is undercutting his goal of creating a economy that provides a standard of living that allows working- and middle-class families to provide for their children, enjoy leisure time, and support charities. The Vice President needs to consider whether a society in which parents lay awake at night worrying about being able to afford to fill up their cars or buy enough groceries for their families is one that is “about the dignity of the human person,” or if human dignity is best advanced by allowing individuals to enjoy the blessings of liberty.
