The future of American free enterprise contra Obama and beyond
American Enterprise Institute's Arthur Brooks was asked by Marvin Olasky (World, Jan. 16, 2010) about American free enterprise. Here are excerpts:
Q: Is the drive the drive to nationalize healthcare a special case or part of a bigger picture?
A: The current administration has two guiding principles, basically. Overseas, what they call diplomacy, which we call appeasement. At home, what they call fairness, which we call redistribution. Redistribution comes about because, for the current administration, the problem is that some people have more and some people have less. That's not a problem for me: I want more equality of opportunity for people to pursue their skills and passions, and individual opportunity will lead naturally to different outcomes.
Q: Once Congress finish with healthcare, one way or the other, what will be a hot issue during the rest of 2010?
A: Tax reform is coming around . . . . When people see that raising taxes cuts off opportunity for them, their kids, and their grandkids, and when we have to pay for the deficit by taxing the middle class, which inevitably will happen, this is going to become a hot, hot issue. It will start emerging in 2010. This is one area where AEI is utterly locked and loaded. We have the data and we're ready to go on this. I can't wait for that fight.
Q: Can candidates with strong conservative principles win elections?
A: Margaret Thatcher won in the U.K. Ronald Reagan won in the U.S. Our task has to be one of principle and not of political expediency in the 2010 midterm elections. It's a short-term vs. long-term problem: We're not working for one year or two years or 2012, but for the next hundred years. We're working for the free enterprise system that's going to benefit our kids and grandchildren and generations to come. The free enterprise system is a gift to America and America is a gift to the world, but only under the right circumstances. Those of us who believe these things need to hold our colleagues',m friends' and leaders' feet to the fire.
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