This…
…from Yglesias is worth noting. He makes a good point too:
In the United States, everything must surrender beneath the all-powerful God of flexible labor markets, and “pro-family” conservatives seem fine with that.
It does seem odd that social conservatives are so often aligned with economic conservatives (by which I mean free-market, supply-siders – not balanced budgeters) when much of what the free market stands for in its most unregulated form is helping to disintegrate the American family through longer work weeks, worse health care benefits, and the death of any sort of post-retirement security in the form of reliable pensions (not to mention the example Yglesias uses of paid maternity/paternity leave….)
“when much of what the free market stands for in its most unregulated form is helping to disintegrate the American family through longer work weeks, worse health care benefits, and the death of any sort of post-retirement security in the form of reliable pensions (not to mention the example Yglesias uses of paid maternity/paternity leave”
We haven’t had a free market since the end of the 19th century (even then there was regulation), so I don’t know how you make this claim. The truth we don’t know what a free market would create socially in the 21st century — however, I trust the benevolence and good sense of the public sphere to deal with societal/collective problems much more effectively and compassionately than government.Report