The Free Market Argument

Abstract

It is important to point out at the beginning that what I call the “free market argument” differs from what has come to be known as the “conservative argument.” This is because the latter is a composite of moral, economic, and political arguments that present a multi-faceted perspective on social issues. George Nash in The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 divides conservatives into three groups—the “libertarians” or classical liberals, the “traditionalists,” and the “evangelical anti-communists.” He claims that a full characterization of the conservative argument must take all of these groups into account. My characterization of the free market argument is closest to the libertarian view, concentrating on the classical liberal value of individual rights and avoiding the emotional and moralistic concerns of the “traditionalists” and “evangelical anti-communists.” I will separate the free market argument from the conservative argument and investigate it in isolation.