Free markets aren’t an ideology. They’re common sense. They’re as natural as humankind. Hunter-gatherer societies frequently practiced the exchange of goods with other tribes. They did it out of common sense – i.e. for the improvement of their lives – not out of ideology. Exchange intensified during agricultural societies, and intensified even more during industrial/technical societies.
Just as a doctor doesn’t set up a life support system based on ideology, just as a mechanic doesn’t fix a blown gasket based on ideology, and just as a company CEO doesn’t sell widgets based on ideology, running an economy isn’t based on ideology either.
In America and the world, there are blown gaskets galore. One thing to show for it is a $16 trillion national debt and stagnating economic growth. Bad laws are gunking up the machinery. Fixing the mess just takes a little free-market common sense.
Still, you could have the freest market but everything could go poof in an instant. If you thought the cold war between two nations – the U.S. and U.S.S.R. – was frightening, wait until there are multiple cold wars among the U.S. and multiple nations. Rogue nations. If they’re permitted to develop weapons of mass destruction, a cold war could get hot. Easily. Particularly with terrorists carrying out rogue nations’ dirty deeds. That’s why it is so important for the United States and other democracies to prevent unsavory regimes from gaining WMD, especially nuclear WMD. That’s why it’s so important for the free world to maintain military strength, because a world in which only the unfree world has strong militaries would be a frightening world indeed.
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