Capitalist confusion

During the past year, we have all followed two candidates as they vied for that coveted desk. They’ve gone back and forth at each other countless times trying to out-do the other in an effort to show America who’s more Christian, more apple pie, more middle-class, even who’s more humble.

Recently, as a result of the financial crisis, each has been trying to prove he’s more free market. I’ll leave aside the obvious implication here that free market capitalism is righteous as it obviously presupposes its legitimacy – because I’m mainly in agreement – and address instead the nature of each platform with respect to where America wants to go.

They both say they are free market capitalists, John McCain even going as far as to dub himself “the biggest free marketer and free trader that you will ever see.”

But how does America feel about Free Trade? A CNN poll conducted on June 29 (before the financial crisis came into attention for most Americans) stated that 51 percent of the public feels that foreign trade is a threat to America, whereas only 41 percent thought it represented an opportunity.

This fear comes with empirical rationality. Throughout the past decade, we’ve seen American jobs outsourced or American companies pick up and move factories overseas. And there’s only more to come. Former Federal Reserve Board vice chairman, Alan Blinder, recently said globalization will cost 30 to 40 million American jobs in the next 20 years.

It’s certainly understandable then for some Americans, especially unskilled workers, to want an effort from our president to create protectionist policies. Although President-elect Barack Obama is the closest, saying he’d like to keep but amend NAFTA and other trade agreements, neither is for fair trade.

So are the candidates representing America and its values even when polls show that they’re sitting on the wrong side of the issue? It’s hard to say. I mean, on one hand, America revolted against mercantilism, a British form of protectionism, so that we could trade freely. On the other, we’ve had protectionist policies in some form or another throughout our history and only slightly let up after Germany and Britain lost their seats as the supreme industrial powers.

Furthermore, the parties themselves have changed over time. We’re often reminded by modern day Republicans when they’re defending themselves that Lincoln was a Republican. But, unlike “the biggest free marketer and free trader that you will ever see” Lincoln was strongly opposed to free trade. And back then, the Democrats were those who wanted relatively little restrictions on trade.

It’s hard to say, as an advocate of free trade and a believer in democracy, what the president should do in this case. Do you trick, bribe or swindle people to go along with free trade if you can’t convince them it’s the best option; or do you represent the will of the people even in their “ignorance?”

In fact, many of Obama’s stances on the issue during the campaign seemed like an attempt to give just enough leeway to voters while at the same time not fall too far from free trade theory.