Finally, a Republican who’s willing to defend capitalism (but unwilling to run for president)
Those who have been waiting for one of the Republican presidential candidates to offer a full-throated defense of free-market capitalism — only to see Newt Gingrich sniping at Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, and Romney returning fire about Gingrich being a “very wealthy man” given his line of credit at Tiffany and Co. — may have to settle for an excellent op-ed from a non-candidate: Jeb Bush. (Or is he?)
Writing in the Wall Street Journal today, Bush riffs on the phrase coined by another Republican who flirted with a run at the White House next year, Rep. Paul Ryan: “the right to rise.”
Bush writes:
We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise. We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck.
That is what economic freedom looks like. Freedom to succeed as well as to fail, freedom to do something or nothing. People understand this. Freedom of speech, for example, means that we put up with a lot of verbal and visual garbage in order to make sure that individuals have the right to say what needs to be said, even when it is inconvenient or unpopular. We forgive the sacrifices of free speech because we value its blessings.
But when it comes to economic freedom, we are less forgiving of the cycles of growth and loss, of trial and error, and of failure and success that are part of the realities of the marketplace and life itself.
This is the anti-bailout, anti-cronyism, anti-overregulation, anti-”do something” mantra we need to hear from the Republican alternative to Barack Obama next year. (To those who note the irony of Jeb Bush opposing the kinds of bailouts his brother implemented as president: I didn’t miss it; I’d only point out that, as many Republicans have noted ruefully over the years, Jeb is not George.)
Finally, Bush demonstrates exactly how someone in the GOP field needs to frame the debate:
In short, we must choose between the straight line promised by the statists and the jagged line of economic freedom. The straight line of gradual and controlled growth is what the statists promise but can never deliver. The jagged line offers no guarantees but has a powerful record of delivering the most prosperity and the most opportunity to the most people. We cannot possibly know in advance what freedom promises for 312 million individuals. But unless we are willing to explore the jagged line of freedom, we will be stuck with the straight line. And the straight line, it turns out, is a flat line.
ADDED: I meant, then forgot, to note that Ron Paul of course makes similar arguments. If nothing else, I wish his arguments would prod one of the candidates riding higher in the polls to follow suit.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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187 comments Add your comment
Shine
December 19th, 2011
3:56 pm
TD, The question was can one be charged for killing off a corporation. They people ya know. If not, I know some people I want to incorporate ASAP.
Ol' Timer
December 19th, 2011
3:57 pm
Ol’ Jeb is what you’d call a “bumper sticker intellectual.”
JF McNamara
December 19th, 2011
4:03 pm
UGA 1999,
Apple only exists because Microsoft wasn’t allowed to buy them. If we had a free market, Microsoft would have bought Apple to stamp out competition. Do you remember all of the Microsoft anti trust scrutiny?
When the Bell’s broke up, long distance calling prices collapsed. Competition was fostered. Competition led to the spreading of DSL and the wireless revolution. They have now reconsolidated to the point where there is minimal competition. Two players essentially own the market. What is there incentive to lower prices or expand technology?
The break up appears to have been the right thing to do. It created a competitive market place. That’s what we want. Not an environment where all actors do whatever they want to make money.
redneckbluedog
December 19th, 2011
4:06 pm
Stevie Ray
December 19th, 2011
3:47 pm
—————————
It starts with “dog-whistle” politics….Then dump on the American Idol, Fox News, and Twitter cultural “enhancements” and we get “dog-whistle politics on crack”
carlosgvv
December 19th, 2011
4:06 pm
td – 2:38
Unemployment is actually much higher than it is being reported. Corporations are awash in cash but are not hiring. They have found a way to keep profits high and unemployment higher, probably by shipping as many jobs as possible overseas. What they really want is a return to the days of 12 hour workdays, 6 day workweeks, no overtime, no paid vacations, no paid sick leave, no paid holidays,no shared paying of insurance and a return to child labor They also want to end Social Security, Medicare and Medicade. If you support all of the above, by all means vote Republican..
carlosgvv
December 19th, 2011
4:08 pm
UGA 1999 – 2:32
Your suport of Cain was nothing more than smoke and mirrors as you knew there was no way he was getting the nomination. Nice try,though.
Tiffany's Acct
December 19th, 2011
4:19 pm
Jeb Bush, the same man that loves happy endings!!!!!!!!!!!
@@
December 19th, 2011
4:31 pm
Were GW and Jeb talking prior to the bank bailouts?
That is what economic freedom looks like. Freedom to succeed as well as to fail, freedom to do something or nothing.
Does that apply to individuals too?
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.–Robert Frost
Hillbilly D
December 19th, 2011
4:53 pm
You know that even the Confederacy had like 7 or 8 other states..!?!?
There were 10 others besides Georgia; a total of 11. There were also provisional governments in some of the border states, that didn’t secede.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
I probably would’ve taken neither road and just cut across the holler. (IW&SH)
Kyle Wingfield
December 19th, 2011
5:00 pm
JF @ 4:03: I don’t recall any Microsoft antitrust cases that had to do with Apple. I recall one (in the U.S.) involving “bundling” the browser with Windows, and another (in Europe) involving “bundling” the media player with Windows. Each of which, by the time it was resolved, had been rendered moot by the market (including, fwiw, Apple and iTunes rendering Windows Media Player commercially irrelevant).
yuzeyurbrane
December 19th, 2011
5:06 pm
td, actually I can agree that w/o middle class consuming goods, the kind of econ. prosperity we have come to count cannot happen. That is part of my part of my point. Unfortunately, many in our busn. class don’t have your clarity of vision and have merely begun to look only at short-term results and false profits from outsourcing, etc. An economy that produces nothing but profits from financial transactions or where there are not enough customers to sufficiently purchase goods mfrd. here will in the long run encounter decline. I disagree with you in that I don’t see this shortsightedness as being self-correcting in full but being a situation where the govt. can play a beneficial role for all.
The Lack and Absence of Moral Principles by the Republicans
December 19th, 2011
5:07 pm
@Stevie Ray December 19th, 2011 3:48 pm – LACKANDABSENCE, You appear to be LACKINGFORMEANINGFULDEBATERESPONSE….
***************************************************************************
“YOU” don’t tell me how to respond.
I am not going to debate with fools.
I make my comments and express my opinions.
If you don’t like it…………@##### @@@@@
Martin Williams
December 19th, 2011
5:17 pm
What Jeb Bush wrote is complete non-sense trying to defend capitalism. What is happening in the world in caused by capitalism missed with socialism. If anybody thinks United States is not a missed of socialism and capitalism needs to go back to middle school and look up both words. Capitalism is the greatest evil in the world. Capitalism missed with socialism was the reason why both parties in this country decided to bail out all those BIG businesses in 2008 and up to this point. Jeb can fool people like you Kyle, but not me. Can’t remenber the name of the author Kyle, but look for a book titled ‘ Democracy For The Few’ it is good read. Came across it in 80s.
The Lack and Absence of Moral Principles by the Republicans
December 19th, 2011
5:19 pm
” We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck.”
The problem with Jeb Bush’s statement above is that there are capitalists who make and capitalists who take.
One is making money by producing real value for others.
One is just making money by exploiting others.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 19th, 2011
5:54 pm
ByteMe: Ah, the binary world.
————————-
Hitler and his “final solution”…good or bad?
Ah, the binary world.
Obozo’s 9% unemployment…good or bad?
Obozo’s $1.5 trillion deficits…good or bad?
Obozo’s record numbers of folks living in poverty…good or bad?
Ah, the binary world.
Obozo: Failure.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 19th, 2011
5:56 pm
The Lack and Absence of Moral Principles by the Republicans: One is just making money by exploiting others.
—————————-
Name one.
Kyle Wingfield
December 19th, 2011
6:00 pm
Lack @ 5:19: I don’t see anything in Bush’s article that contradicts your point. Along those lines, I re-recommend this article.
redneckbluedog
December 19th, 2011
6:03 pm
Hillbilly D
December 19th, 2011
4:53 pm
———————————
Thank you for that clarity…..I was trying to be careful about some of the states that were late to secede as well as some of the others prior to the Missouri Compromise…
The Lack and Absence of Moral Principles by the Republicans
December 19th, 2011
6:04 pm
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 19th, 2011 5:56 pm – The Lack and Absence of Moral Principles by the Republicans: One is just making money by exploiting others.
Name one.
*********************************************************
#### @$$ #####0#### $$$$$$ @@@@@ ****you!
redneckbluedog
December 19th, 2011
6:08 pm
td
December 19th, 2011
3:20 pm
———————————-
Lot’s of Republicans got elected in swing to Democrat districts in 2010…..2012 is getting more precarious every day….I can think of 4, off hand, in Colorado, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia….Maybe 1 or 2 in Tennessee…Maybe 1 in NY…Maybe in Michigan and Wisconsin…That could be at least 10 right there…Arizona..11…
The Lack and Absence of Moral Principles by the Republicans
December 19th, 2011
6:12 pm
@ Kyle Wingfield 6:00 p.m.
The problem I have with this statement: “” We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. ”
Whose bad decisison?
What people suffer the consequences?
Does he mean suffer the consequences from the person who is just making money by exploiting others?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 19th, 2011
6:31 pm
NEWT’S LEAD COLLAPSES
Next?
No, Kyle, not another Bushie.
MarkV
December 19th, 2011
6:38 pm
One more time, what Jeb Bush has written are just banalities without substance. “And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck.” Who would disagree with that? What becomes a bone of contention is, for one thing, what is the amount of fruits people should receive?
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 19th, 2011
7:02 pm
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Two new polls from Iowa, one from Public Policy Polling and the other from Insider Advantage show Gingrich dropping back in the GOP race in the Hawkeye State over just the last week.
What’s interesting about the Insider Advantage poll is that the company is run by someone who has close ties to Gingrich -
Insider Advantage polled in Iowa on December 12 and had this:
Gingrich – 27%
Paul – 17%
Perry – 13%
Romney – 12%
Bachmann – 10%
The latest poll from Insider Advantage from December 18 now has Ron Paul in the lead and a giant drop in support for Gingrich:
Paul – 24%
Romney – 18%
Perry – 16%
Gingrich – 13%
Bachmann – 10%
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 19th, 2011
7:21 pm
CALLER: Well, because the media wants you angry. The establishment wants you angry. They want you dissatisfied with the way the system is. Part of the liberal conditioning is that you’re never happy, and that’s what liberals don’t like to admit. I mean I can honestly say that because I used to be a liberal. I was unhappy. I was angry. I didn’t like Rush Limbaugh, he was a terrible person as far as I was concerned. Even though I’d never listened to your show, I somehow knew you were a terrible person. When I actually listened to your show, I realized how wrong and I was and I feel almost ashamed that I was duped.
Isn’t it so true, if you look in the dictionary above the word “dupe” there’s always a picture of some lib.
They’re all suckers.
What?
December 19th, 2011
7:22 pm
Lil Barry @5:56 – Name one?
Any American corporation that has let go of qualified American workers in exchange for hiring/sponsoring H1B-Visa workers at a much lower wage…Delta, Home Depot, Wal-Greens, CVS, Wells-Fargo, AJC, the list goes on. I’ve not yet had one partriotic American explain to me the patriotism in putting their fellow qualified Americans in the unemployment line.
I understand profits above all else is the mantra of the day. Yet a lot of you on the right love to cry about people being anti-American and not patriotic. I just want to understand how you balance the dismantling of the American work force with patriotism. We’re not just talking manufacturing, we’re talking all sectors of the American work force.
Smokey
December 19th, 2011
8:23 pm
Amen What? I work for one of those companies and our IT department in Atlanta looks like Chennai -West probably numbering well over 500. That doesn’t include the hundreds we contract to actually located in in India. Meanwhile I have friends in IT in the Atlanta area that have been unemployed for years! Heartbreaking really…
Devil's Advocate
December 19th, 2011
8:26 pm
So is CALLER trying to say all conservatives are happy? If that’s not the message, what’s the point in calling liberals unhappy since talking points require liberals and conservatives to differ on everything.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 19th, 2011
8:49 pm
I’ll never forget the picture in the Urinal of two guys, one screaming and the other trying to calm the screaming dude down, hands extended upwards in a sign of peace.
In the caption accompanying this picture, the ate up Atlanta AJC pinkos explained that the screaming dude was screaming on the behalf of the murder of Terri Schaivo.
Yeah, the liberals killed their woman. They got her.
I know which side I’m on, and it ain’t yours, DA.
just sayin….
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 19th, 2011
8:54 pm
Liberals will never kill a murderer or a dictator or a genocidal maniac, unless, of course, their poll numbers require them to.
But, in a Minnesota Minute, they will kill an unborn child or some feeble invalid.
What more do you need to know?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 19th, 2011
9:22 pm
Obozo despises capitalism and every other thing that made America great. He is a menace that must be removed from office next election.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 19th, 2011
9:26 pm
What?: Any American corporation that has let go of qualified American workers in exchange for hiring/sponsoring H1B-Visa workers at a much lower wage…
——-
I asked for a company that is profiting by exploiting others. The H1-B workers took those jobs by choice–how are they being exploited?
michelle
December 19th, 2011
10:02 pm
I think Kyle is delusional because half of the American people now exist BELOW the poverty line. Capitalism has failed, and it has failed miserably. It only works when we are profitably engaged in slaughtering civilians under the euphism that we call war. Then everybody makes money and lives the american dream about owning a house and driving a car, and, and, and, having sex in that car, no, that was the thirties and forties, I know, the American dream was about having a home to hold parties where you could swap wives and maybe invite some college girls to tune in, turn on, and get naked, no, no, that was the fifties and sixties, (dammit, I get everything wrong), okay, the American dream today is about, uh, avoiding the “every-other-person-we-encounter”. Yes!
That’s it: The American Dream is about ignoring half of your constituency and……
It’s over, folks. Now, we watch the Germans take over Euro. The Germans. Yes, they’re the kind folks who are going to absorb the follies of the lazy Greeks, simply because the Aryan Race is a benevolent and charitable race. (Ignore the historical data lying behind the curtain)
If you have a bucket list…..FILL IT.
We are in the throes of revolution and visioneers like
michelle
December 19th, 2011
10:04 pm
Visioneers like….like….dammit I forgot the bit. I hate that. Sometimes I get a great bit and can’t quite write it down.
I really hate that. Maybe I’ll think of it and maybe I wont, later, but it probably stunk anyway so who cares.
Michael H. Smith
December 20th, 2011
6:06 am
I hope Jeb never runs for the Presidency Kyle. I wish more Republicans and conservatives would listen to what his mother said: The country is Bushed out.
Meaning we or the country don’t need another Bush in the White House.
With that said, I’ll tell you that Jeb would probably have made a better President than his bother. Although, he may well have taken the same actions contrary to this piece he wrote. It is very easy to talk about allowing things and people to fail Kyle, it is a great deal more difficult when the talk stops and what results becomes regrettably more painful than you thought or even thought possible. Et al Dubya and the aftermath allowing Lehmans to fail.
While I agree totally in the concepts of liberty Jeb’s piece encapsulated, which is truly a defense of liberty, it is unfortunate that this same liberty and the rights to it was sacrificed upon the alter of global inter-dependence so tightly woven to the point the collusion produced by it killed the most vital substance that capitalism must have to survive – competition. As we conservatives well know Kyle, competition, in and of itself, is not only an unwritten regulation, it is the unseen regulator of all capitalist markets and had this regulator not been manipulated to the point I mentioned, which was in effect a collusion, it is doubtful the global inter-dependence or what is called “Too Big To Fail” could have ever been given birth let alone the existence it enjoys even to this day. The point was raised earlier in a comment that highlights what I’m driving at here in this less than acceptable less than diametric competitiveness of the non-binary nature that may better be described in the slang word, “Frenemy”: When there is no longer foes that take down or knock down what is seen as an entity growing too big or too powerful in the marketplace.
Only one other comment to make on Jeb’s piece is on his view of free speech, in which I must say I like Larry Flint’s definition or version better(paraphrase): Free speech exist only when others can all say all the things you hate most and don’t want said, without government infringement or censor.
e.g.“obumer”!
Tiffany's Acct
December 20th, 2011
8:37 am
Test 1 2 3 Test 1 2 3
Observer
December 22nd, 2011
8:28 am
I don’t usually get involved in politics but after 4 years of hoping that Obama and the Democrats could fix the economic problems that the last Republican President ( Bush) and the Democratic Senate and Democratic House created (The Great Recession 2007-2011), I have totally changed my mind. I don’t think 4 more years of the same will do any more than provide time for the current Administration to “try this” and “try that? ENOUGH of the American people being experimental mice.
This new payroll tax-FICA Fiasco-Warren Buffet Rule-whatever you want to call it is VERY dangerous and needs to be thought through very thoroughly.
I don’t have a problem with creating a new tax to pass on to the 500 CEOs in the Fortune 500 that currently earn 3 to 5 million dollars a year. However, what I see the Republican House struggling with is just how this will ALSO affect the “entrepreneurial class” (20 million small businesses in America that employ 60 million-600 million workers nationwide. To me, this is the class that made America the most prosperous county in the history of mankind. I shudder to think what the payroll tax will tell them. worked 70-80 hour weeks to get ahead and provide a better life for their families. Work 80 hours a week for five-ten years for your family so you can give your profits to strangers who don’t?
What happens if this new payroll tax goes through and the Federal Government takes another 20% from this class? More if you factor in Health Care and a few other reforms they have already been forced to pay for?
It appears to me that the Democrats in Washington are scrambling to save their jobs while the Republicans are scrambling to save America.
In 2008 this southern Democrat voted to give Obama a chance. In 2012 I’m voting for Newt Gingrich (Republican). I only wish Zell Miller (Democrat) would be his running mate.