RALEIGH – In the spirit of the KISS model of marketing, please allow me to sum up modern conservatism with three game-show titles.
It all begins with Truth or Consequences.
The modern conservative movement is a tapestry woven of at least three different strands of thought: libertarians, traditionalists, and hawks. These groups have enough common ground, either in principle or in practical application, to form a coalition. But they also have enough differences to keep things interesting.
In my view, the coalition coheres to the extent that its members recognize an underlying consensus about truth. The conservative movement constitutes an alliance of those who accept unchangeable facts rather than trying to wish fantasy into reality, remake human nature, or avoid economic tradeoffs. Traditionalists embrace timeless morals, even when they deny one immediate gratification. Libertarians embrace the sovereignty of consumer demand and the sometimes-disorienting effects of technological change, even when the result isn’t to one’s personal liking. And hawks embrace the reality that America lives in a dangerous neighborhood, one full of bullies, pirates, and fanatics who respond to gestures of good will with contempt, larceny, and brutality.
Next, ponder the key insight of The Price Is Right.
Prices aren’t arbitrary. They reflect underlying realities, and communicate those realities in real-time. When government officials pretend that prices are arbitrary and intervene to make them “fairer,” the results are invariably counterproductive. When governments force the price of labor higher than the value created by that labor, with minimum-wage laws, they eliminate jobs. When governments force the price of goods lower than the market price, with such policies as rent control or price-gouging laws, they create artificial shortages. When governments dismiss the verdict of the marketplace, expressed through prices and profits, by suggesting that consumers lack the relevant information to make the right choice, they ignore their own lack of relevant information in knowing what the “right choice” is.
Finally, living in a free society means reserving the right to make your own choices and bear personal responsibility for them. It means taking risks, reaping the rewards if any, and learning from your mistakes. It means determining for yourself what good or service you will value, and how much you are willing to give up to obtain it.
In a free society, you can be a vegan or you can shoot your supper. You can be generous or miserly. You can be a workaholic or a couch potato. You can compost. Or not. You can care enough for an endangered snail to be willing to pay a property owner to preserve it. Or not. You can worship God, Baal, or a head of lettuce (speaking of vintage TV, you get extra points for identifying the source of this reference). What you cannot do is force others to share your values and conform to your expectations.
In short, limited government leaves room for people to work out their differences through voluntary cooperation. The operative phrase?
Let’s Make A Deal, of course.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation