Conservatives (actually classical liberals) value free markets. That’s why George Will uses his latest Newsweek column to highlight an interesting development:
Today, the “social safety net”?a phrase that originally described aid
for widows and orphans?is being radically enlarged to provide security
for investors in large financial institutions. This enlargement is
being improvised by conservative Republicans whose only doctrine is the
theory of TBTF. The theory is that this or that institution is too big
to (be allowed to) fail.
Will says the doctrine has interesting political implications:
Today’s conservative corporatism of the Republican administration might
“work,” meaning it might minimize the duration of, and damage from, the
current crisis. It is, however, complicating McCain’s task of depicting
Obama as a reckless enlarger of government. McCain is losing recourse
to conservatism’s core message about the rationality of governmental
minimalism that allows markets to inflict their rigors.
