Some of you may have seen this quote in the recent issue of Forbes, but it is worth repeating. It comes from a recent column by John Stossel in the New York Sun:
America became an economic power despite, not because of, Hamiltonian intervention. Hong Kong and much of East Asia went from abject poverty to affluence in a few decades not because their governments gave people "tools they need to compete" -- they didn't -- but because they exercised limited powers.I wish Mr. [David] Brooks and other Hamiltonian conservatives understood that freedom and prosperity have nothing to do with bureaucrats managing society through schooling and tax manipulation.
Prosperity comes from leaving people free in a legal system that respects their persons and property so they can pursue their dreams while taking responsibility for their actions. Free people find their own tools if the state leaves them alone.
In the era of big government, the last thing we need are champions of the statist Hamilton.
What we need now are champions of the libertarian Jefferson, who said in a very un-Hamiltonian way: "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
I was reminded of the difference between the more libertarian brand of conservatism and big government conservatism when Arthur Laffer came to campus. He stressed several times that one of the most important outcomes of the Reagan tax cuts was that they created more money for government. Hamilton would have been proud of that view.
To only advocate for lower taxes misses the most important part of the economic equation that American needs follow. To help foster our entrepreneurial economy we need to focus on creating less government and more freedom.
