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Politics in this country is routinely described as a battle between liberals who want a larger role for government and conservatives who favor a smaller role. This framing is completely wrong, but the conservatives insist on using it because it helps advance their agenda. Liberals tend to accept it because they like to lose.
In reality, there is no direct relationship between the extent of government intervention in the economy that one prefers and whether they are liberal or conservative. There are numerous examples of cases where the conservatives have supported large amounts of government intervention in the economy, most notably in supporting strong patent and copyright protection. These are government-imposed monopolies that have the effect of redistributing close to $1 trillion a year from consumers to patent and copyright holders.
Filed under: Healthcare, politics
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