{"id":1935,"date":"2026-09-12T04:12:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T04:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935"},"modified":"2026-09-12T04:12:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T04:12:38","slug":"its-about-free-markets-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

I<\/span>deas Have Consequences<\/em> is the title of a conservative classic published in 1948. In that best-selling book, Richard M. Weaver foresees the decline of the West due to a loss of faith in its governing ideals.<\/p>\n

Read more The Spectacle Ep. 465: The Left and Right Are WRONG About Lindsay Clancy<\/a><\/p>\n

Something parallel is going on today in the current political debate about \u201csocialism\u201d versus \u201ccapitalism.\u201d Today, however, a better title would be Words<\/em> Have Consequences<\/em>. Rather than being drawn into a \u201crigged\u201d debate about the merits of \u201ccapitalism versus socialism,\u201d conservatives should be reframing the issue as about a choice between \u201cfree markets\u201d and \u201csocialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The term \u201ccapitalism\u201d is not neutral. It implicitly posits that \u201ccapitalists\u201d are running the show, whereas \u201csocialism\u201d is supposedly about benefiting \u201csociety\u201d as a whole. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth: history has shown that \u201cfree markets\u201d create the greatest opportunity for the greatest number, whereas \u201csocialism\u201d leads to ruin, both economically and spiritually. (RELATED: <\/strong>Why I Support Zohran<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Unlike \u201ccapitalism,\u201d the term \u201cfree markets\u201d emphasizes as its defining feature that people are free to make thousands of decentralized decisions for themselves\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Unfortunately, however, to the public, evocative words are often more persuasive than historical facts and figures. The word \u201ccapitalist\u201d calls to mind the cartoon character of a rich, cigar-smoking oligarch, not the recent immigrant who is living the American Dream by starting their own landscaping or house cleaning business. No wonder then that the rising tide of \u201cdemocratic socialists\u201d in the Democrat party, aided by their allies in the legacy media, wish to try to frame the current debate as between \u201csocialism,\u201d which sounds good, and \u201ccapitalism,\u201d which sounds bad.\u00a0(RELATED: Everyone Hates Milton Friedman Again)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every good trial lawyer knows, or should know, that how one phrases a question often determines how that question will be answered. Back when I was trying court cases, we carefully picked the terms that we used to describe issues in the case \u2014 and when the judge and the other side started using our terminology, we knew that we had won the case.<\/p>\n

For example, years ago when I was defending a company in a toxic tort case, our jury research showed that about half of prospective jurors believed that any chemical with three letters for a name probably caused cancer (what!). We stopped referring to our client\u2019s product by the three-letter abbreviation for its chemical name and instead called our product by its trade name. Freed from the overhang of prejudicial terminology, we won the case based on the science.<\/p>\n

However, recently the far left has gotten good at coming up with scary terms that substitute for a fair and balanced discussion of the facts. For example, \u201cFranken-foods\u201d for those that contain genetically modified plants, or \u201cforever chemicals\u201d for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of over 14,000 different chemicals with different uses and properties \u2014 and no, they don\u2019t really last \u201cforever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more What We Must \u2018Never Forget\u2019 25 Years After 9\/11<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike \u201ccapitalism,\u201d the term \u201cfree markets\u201d emphasizes as its defining feature that people are free to make thousands of decentralized decisions for themselves rather than being governed by \u201cexperts\u201d who purport to know what\u2019s best for them. Ever since Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations <\/em>in 1776, wise people have known that the \u201cinvisible hand\u201d of the market distills far more information than any human can consider and therefore is often wiser than any individual.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, government by \u201cexperts\u201d who purport to do what they think is best for the public is a superficially attractive idea, but it is deeply wrong for two separate reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. centralized power can always be captured and perverted by special interests, a concept called \u201crent-seeking,\u201d for which James M. Buchanan won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1986, and<\/li>\n
  2. decentralized decision-making in markets is often \u201csmarter\u201d than the so-called experts, an idea for which Friedrich von Hayek won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1974.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For over two decades I taught these and other conservative thinkers to the few students at the Yale Law School who were interested in hearing the other side of the conventional liberal gruel that they were being force-fed by the media and in some of their other classes. As luck would have it \u2014 or maybe it was more than luck? \u2014 a bright young law student from Ohio named JD Vance took my course. Let\u2019s hope he did the reading for that class.<\/p>\n

    Anyway, those of us who are interested in a fair debate on the merits should stop falling into the Left\u2019s rhetorical trap of framing the issue as a struggle between \u201ccapitalism\u201d and \u201csocialism.\u201d No, the debate is really about how much freedom we are allowed to retain; the real issue is whether we leave most economic decisions for people to make for themselves or turn everyone into a ward of a supposedly beneficent state that decides for all of us what kinds of cars we may drive and what we may buy at the government-run grocery store.<\/p>\n

    To be sure, sometimes markets should not be left totally unregulated. There are exceptional circumstances, called \u201cmarket failures\u201d in economic theory, in which unregulated free markets may not result in efficient allocation of goods and services. But such circumstances are relatively rare and do not imply that government \u201cexperts\u201d should decide everything just because they think they are smarter than the general public\u2014 as they almost always do.<\/p>\n

    The debate today is really about the proper size and role of government and whether we should replace our still relatively free markets with even more government control.\u00a0 So going forward, let\u2019s call a spade a spade: the debate is about \u201cfree markets\u201d versus \u201csocialism,\u201d not \u201ccapitalism\u201d versus \u201csocialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Read more Volkswagen\u2019s Electric Suicide Pact<\/a><\/p>\n

    READ MORE from E. Donald Elliott:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Our Worst Problem? Our Antiquated Constitution<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Goodbye,\u00a0New York Times<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Why Aren\u2019t We Talking About Things That Matter Anymore?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A most wonderful article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-the-market"],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid - National Logistics Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid - National Logistics Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A most wonderful article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Logistics Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-12T04:12:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc\"},\"headline\":\"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-12T04:12:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935\"},\"wordCount\":996,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Free the Market\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid - National Logistics Post\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-12T04:12:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png\",\"width\":2172,\"height\":724},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1935#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"National Logistics Post\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid - National Logistics Post","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid - National Logistics Post","og_description":"A most wonderful article","og_url":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935","og_site_name":"National Logistics Post","article_published_time":"2026-09-12T04:12:38+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc"},"headline":"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid","datePublished":"2026-09-12T04:12:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935"},"wordCount":996,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png","articleSection":["Free the Market"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935","url":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935","name":"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid - National Logistics Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png","datePublished":"2026-09-12T04:12:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/9520b61c0253ecb88571af5ce22dee21.png","width":2172,"height":724},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1935#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It\u2019s About Free Markets, Stupid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/","name":"National Logistics Post","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}