According to the editors at The Economist, “Republicans used to extol the benefits of free trade and free markets,” but now, many support barriers to international trade, generous government spending, and condemn corporate America. At least part of the shift is corporate America’s leftward lurch, especially the trend to enlist the marketplace in woke causes while threatening the freedom of speech.  

Still, the urge to paint capitalism as the root of all evil is misguided. As civic education in the U.S. declines, fewer Americans on the left and the right understand how much better free markets are than every other alternative. Capitalism aligns better with the human condition than other systems, especially in seeing people as not only “consumers” but also “producers.” Not merely as problems to be solved but as the best potential to solve the problems. 

That’s why the market has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system in history. Throwing that away would be a serious mistake.