“I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system,” – President Bush in a December 16, 2008 interview with CNN
Although President Bush followed the above quote with a joke about his recent shoe assault, abandoning free market principles is no laughing matter.
And although the President may have been able to dodge said shoes, he’s unlikely to get around one particular group of disgruntled, free market Republicans—assuming, of course, that they can organize quickly and effectively.
Fortunately for those who still value the capitalist system and haven’t yet been snookered in by the false narrative surrounding the financial crisis, a number of GOP legislators have begun to strike back. In a letter sent yesterday to President Bush, seven Republican senators urged the President not to use the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to bail out the struggling automotive industry. As the letter urges:
“Last week, the Senate rejected a legislative bailout after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union refused to agree to changes necessary to help the Big Three automakers become more competitive. According to news accounts, your Administration is considering providing TARP funds to the automakers without requiring the UAW and the automakers to make sufficient reforms. Absent such restructuring, we do not believe any amount of money will succeed in saving these companies”
Apparently, the seven stalwart senators caught the same aforementioned interview with CNN in which Bush pledged to save the free market system by ridding it of its core principles. Like us at ALG News Bureau, they see the two as inherently—and obviously—contradictory.
The seven senators signing the letter—Saxby Chambliss (GA), Tom Coburn (OK), Jim DeMint (SC), Jeff Sessions (AL), John Ensign (NV), John Cornyn (TX) and Mike Enzi (WY)—deserve the support and respect of all who value the free market system. And while others are expected to follow suit, it is absolutely vital that these seven energize the remaining Republicans (and any remaining free market Democrats) to resist the Big Three bailout and their own President—granted that he follows through in backing the bailout.
If House and Senate GOP cannot muster the fortitude to stand up to a president from their own party, how can anyone expect them to stand up to a President Obama? The current situation ought to be viewed as a litmus test of Congressional Republicans’ willpower: are they going to throw in the towel, side with their compromising president, and tolerate this egregious violation of the American free market, or will they stand for principle?
Only time will tell. In the meantime, however, it is reassuring that some Republicans are walking the walk of free market capitalism.
Before the other shoe drops—and “rugged individualism” is only a distant memory of a better day—Republicans bear a responsibly to Americans to steadfastly defend the tried and true principles of free markets and a free people.
