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Liberal and conservative economic models share a common flaw. For the most part Democrats and Republicans are synonymous with liberals and conservatives but not quite. The vast majority of Democrats and Republicans take a compromised position on economic policy. They lean liberal or lean conservative but are unwilling to commit fully. This is symptomatic of one or more of the following, intellectual laxity, a lack of commitment or belief in the cause, or pandering to voters which in turn shows a lack of moral character and fortitude. Socialists and Libertarians tend to be much more consistent in their economic policy views and carry liberal and conservative philosophy much closer to their respective logical conclusions than most members of the two major parties do. For the sake of this article the terms “liberal” and “conservative” will refer more to the ideals of those philosophies rather than to the mostly inconsistent members of any particular party.
The thing that liberals and conservatives mutually miss or mess up in economic policy is love. Yes that’s right, love. I’ll start with the liberals.
Liberals tend to be concerned with the well being of the poor, which is good and loving. So they begin on the right track but, they forget about love, and so go about it all wrong. Liberal economic policy in a simplified form is like Robin Hood, take from the rich and give to the poor. Because the money was not given freely, but rather forced by law, it is not charity. The rich, some of whom are very charitable, resent their money being voted out of their hands and given to the voters. They feel that the masses have risen up and stolen from them like a pitchfork mob storming the castle. Because it was not charity (that is, a gift), the poor begin to feel they have a right to it and thus that the rich have stolen from them. The poor then come to resent the rich. So liberal economic policy leads to greater mutual class resentment and less love.
Conservative economic policy focuses on what is just. It is unjust to take a man’s private property so conservatives push for fewer taxes and freer markets. They count on the market growing when there are fewer restrictions and generally it does. This they reason, should help the poor in a trickle down effect. In this model, the poor are an afterthought, not very loving. The poor resent being an afterthought and the rich assume that the poor are poor because they are either lazy or stupid. This is not a good way to breed love.
Charity (that is, grace) is the action of love. Charity and love are two sides of the same coin. Where there is no love, there can be no charity, this is the problem of conservative economics. Where there is not charity, there can be no love, this is the problem of liberal economics. So liberals and conservatives take different paths to smothering love as much as possible. Call me crazy.