Editor’s note: This commentary is by Mark Skelding, of St. Albans, a retired educator who most recently was a faculty member for Southern New Hampshire University’s Graduate Program in Education. He previously worked at Food Works/Two Rivers Center for Sustainability.
[I]n past commentaries I’ve questioned conservatives’ claims that they are the party of patriotism, conservatism, and Christian family values. Their steadfast lack of outrage toward Trump and their elected leaders who continue to aid and abet him just furthers my suspicion. Watch how House Oversight Committee Republicans represented conservatives during the Michael Cohen hearing and, well, enough said.
I also question just how sincere conservatives are when it comes to capitalism. This is especially timely given Trump’s con du jour of trying to brainwash his supporters into believing “liberals” are dangerous socialists who need to be feared and hated. Look at the irony here.
Workers are struggling to make ends meet. Consequently, many are advocating for living wage legislation. In the meantime some are accepting government help and are grateful for the financial assistance. Is it only working class liberals advocating for government to get involved in setting wages? Are working class conservatives protesting en masse over the living wage movement? And are they publicly denouncing and returning all public assistance they receive?
Many working class Americans are angry that employers, in keeping with the capitalist principle that competition drives down cost, are hiring people, minorities in particular, willing to work for minimum wage or less. Consequently, they want legislation that not only opposes hiring immigrants but immigration itself. As well, they cry foul when company executives outsource jobs overseas, a perfectly capitalistic (albeit unpatriotic), free-market thing to do.
The “Buy American, Hire American” slogan and the notion of only doing business in America have become popular with many working class Americans, particularly conservatives. But economic isolation is completely contrary to the capitalist principle of free-market competition. So, too, are import tariffs, quotas, and other government job protection and price control measures.
When Americans feel they’re getting price gouged at the gas pump, pharmacy, or wherever because either the retailer has a monopoly on the product or retailers of that product are conspiring to fix prices, again, they have no problem with government intervening to stop selfish capitalists.
When a company is approaching bankruptcy and the government provides a bailout, it’s rare we see employee outrage over their jobs being spared. Did conservative auto workers march in protest when their employer was bailed out? And haven’t they historically relied on their union leaders to negotiate government protections on their behalf?
No doubt there are other examples of hypocrisy like these. Conservatives claim they are anti-tax, anti-big government, “free-“market capitalists (well, except when it comes to the military, infrastructure, transportation safety, law enforcement, food and drug safety, border security, immigration, etc., etc., etc.). Yet when their personal financial well-being is threatened, we see something completely different. They willingly participate in an economy that, go figure, looks more like socialism than capitalism.
Working class conservatives are a large segment of Donald Trump’s base. They support him because they believe he reflects their character, shares their values, and will represent them accordingly. Ironically, they also believe that because he’s a businessman he will know how to protect their paychecks. Sadly, he’s deceived them on that one. He’s bent on providing tax breaks for entrepreneurs. Those tax breaks widen the gap between rich and poor and further fuel a survival-of-the-fittest economy. They ensure a struggling, perhaps desperate class of workers willing to work for cheap but who, in turn, will need financial assistance. But public assistance programs are funded with tax money. If entrepreneurs pay little to no taxes, where’s that funding going to come from?
Perhaps conservatism isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for the working class. And as for Trump’s latest deceit, are Democrats for socialism, or are they simply for saving capitalism from itself?
