J.D. Tuccille: Republicans join Democrats in the backward fight against economic freedom

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The modern Republican Party is no longer the GOP of former president Ronald Reagan, who warned that the nine most terrifying words in the English language were “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

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In his rejection of free markets and Milton Friedman as relics of the past, Vance isn’t alone. Friedman was a favourite target of Biden during his presidency.

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“Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore,” Biden told Politico’s Michael Grunwald on the campaign trail in 2020, as he voiced hope that COVID-19 would erode support for free markets and skepticism of government intervention.

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“When did Milton Friedman die and become king?” Biden weirdly asked reporters the previous year.

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Then again, Biden, like Vance, is a fan of compulsion so long as it forces people in a direction he chooses.

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Few people expected Biden to be an advocate of economic freedom. According to a 2025 Gallup poll, 66 per cent of Democrats viewed socialism favourably, while support in the party for free-market capitalism slipped to 42 per cent. That same poll found positive views of socialism among Republicans at only 14 per cent, compared to the 74 per cent with favourable opinions of capitalism. But what do partisans mean by these terms?

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Once overwhelmingly supportive of free trade, Republicans have shifted to embrace Trump’s tariffs and the attempt they represent at government management of economic activity. As early as 2016, more Republicans than Democrats endorsed the sentiment in YouGov polling that “The free market has been sorting (the economy) out and America’s been losing.”

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Democrats’ happy new relationships with socialism and totalitarian–curious figures on the far left like Darializa Avila Chevalier and Graham Platner make it clear what they mean by their growing enthusiasm. If they were nominally more pro-market than Republicans a decade ago, that’s very much no longer the case.

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Interestingly, if Vance were serious about describing his preferred economic philosophy as “Hamiltonian,” that might not be so bad. While a big-government type relative to many of his 18th-century contemporaries among the founders, Alexander Hamilton was closer to Friedman than to any scheme of economic central management. He was a protectionist, but not a complete authoritarian.

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“In matters of industry, human enterprize ought, doubtless, to be left free in the main, not fettered by too much regulation; but practical politicians know that it may be beneficially stimulated by prudent aids and encouragements on the part of the Government,” Hamilton wrote in 1801.

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That’s not Friedman, let alone laissez-faire. But nor is it the guided economy with “Christian guardrails” favoured by Vance. We’d be better off with real Hamiltonian economics than with what the VP wants. Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats alike are enamoured with centrally managed economic activity. And they both reject the legacy of Milton Friedman, who favoured political and economic liberty. Brace yourself for whatever they inflict on us next.

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National Post

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