Posted on

White people who wear cowboy hats while profiting from government subsidies just don’t fit the stereotype

“American conservatism used to have room for fairly sophisticated views about the role of government. Its economic patron saint used to be Milton Friedman, who advocated aggressive money-printing, if necessary, to avoid depressions. It used to include environmentalists who took pollution seriously but advocated market-based solutions like cap-and-trade or emissions taxes rather than rigid rules. But today’s conservative leaders were raised on Ayn Rand’s novels and Ronald Reagan’s speeches as opposed to his actual governance, which was a lot more flexible than the legend. They insist that the rights of private property are absolute, and that government is always the problem, never the solution.”

Paul Krugman